Rise of the Hunter
by Adelilah
Summary: Nobody is born evil. Not even Rango, the notorious bountyhunter who has bloodstained rumors and legends surrounding him, probably even more than the Grim Reaper himself. This is a story before his heart broke, and grew back as a twisted, askew lump. From a time when he was Durango Campbell, a loved son and brother, a good friend, loving husband and a prodigy for justice.
1. A long time ago in a town far away

**So, here it is! The moment everyone has been waiting for! Or at least, I have ^^...**

**The Outlaw Archives; Rise of the Hunter.**

**Rango the bountyhunters background story, the time before he became the notorious Rango. When he was still called Durango, and dreamed of becoming the sheriff of his hometown Skeleton Cliffs.**

**Meh, still a pretty corny name, but it'll do ^^!**

**Looking forward to writing this series :3, I've been thinking about this series for a long time actually, but never thought it would see the light of day though xD**

**The chapter will be pretty long, since every chapter takes place in different times, and sometimes places. The first chapter will take place in 1838, when Rango, Jake and Clara are 10 years old, next will take place in 1840, when they're 12, third chapter when they're 16 etc. And since they're so long, they will probably also take a pretty long time to write, so don't expect updates every week ^^"...**

**I'll probably let you guys vote for the next outlaw who'll get his/her story written when this one comes to an end ^^**

**Anyway, enough talking for me now! Lets us begin with the story, eh ;D?**

***** Chapter One : A Long Time Ago In A Town Far Away... *****

Skeleton Cliffs, 5th October 1838

"Durango! Durango! Durango! Durango!" The childrens exciting cheers echoed through the small town in the shadow of the tall, red cliff.

Not too far away, the group of children stood. Everyone had gathered in a circle around another child. A young basilisk, couldn't be more than ten years old, was standing and numbly listened to his playmates cheer. His eyes were closed, bracing himself for what he was about to do.

Durango.

Yeah, that was his name.

Given to him by his father, one of the worst drunkards in the West. How did he come up with that name for his son? Simple, he just looked at the bottom of the bottle of cactus juice he was holding instead of his infant son.

But Durango didn't care much about his father, he wasn't the one to hold a grudge. Besides, he'll be the one in trouble, as soon as he becomes the sheriff of Skeleton Cliffs!

"HEY! RANG-RANG! YOU'RE GONNA DO IT ALREADY?!" A voice, louder than everyone else boomed over the pepping rant. Durango opened one of his eyes and glanced at the owner of the voice. It was his friend, Jacob the Rattlesnake.

"Calm down, Jake! This is an artform! Not something you should force!" Durango replied, causing the snake to jokingly boo. Durango opened both of his eyes and stared at the water in front of him. The monsoon-rain had just ended, and the old river passing through from Dry Creek was once again filled to the brim. He had chosen the calmest spot to try out his little trick on, and its silvery surface glistened in the harsh desert sun. Who knew how long this would last before the river was all dried up again?

Durango went down on all four, heaving a deep sigh and kept his focus on the small river in front of him. This caused the children to cheer louder, as they knew what was coming.

Suddenly Durango did a dashing start and sprinted towards the water. He was closing in on the river but instead of slowing down, he just kept speeding up! He arrived at the waters edge and kept running, even as his feet connected with the cool liquid.

His playmates cheered even louder as they saw him do something that only one other guy in history ever has done before: he ran on the water.

He got a bit more than halfway before the water finally gave in and he collapsed down into the blue with a 'splash'. They saw him swim the remaining distance towards the other side and lied there face down for a while. The cheering had stopped as soon as he fell into the water and everyone was curiously staring at him, wondering if he had survived.

Durango did survive, and after a moment of catching his breath he slowly raised himself to a sitting position and waved at his friends. Letting them see that he was okay. They started cheering and applauding again, louder than before. Jake hoisted his rattle and shook it furiously, the dry rustling adding to the crowd.

Durango laughed and got up on both of his legs and waved back at his friends even more enthusiastically than before. He rested for a bit before throwing him back into the water and swam across, back to where he started. He was glad he had been smart enough to cross the calmer parts of the river, this was tiring as it is. The young lizard was a good swimmer, even though nobody actually got to teach him how. To swim was just as natural to him as running was to roadrunners...

He crawled up on the rocky beach and flipped on his back, catching his breath. Suddenly, a big snout appeared, blocking the sun.

"Nice! You got even further than the last time!" Jake grinned. "But, you're still just halfway! Wonder if you'll make it across before the water draws back?"

Durango frowned. "Of course I will! So far I'm just warmin' up!" He sat up and pushed the rattlesnakes head out of the way with his hand. He looked at the river. It wasn't very wide, but it was deep. And if he tried to make it all the way across now, he'd just get a cramp and since no one knew how to swim, he was probably going to drown too! It nearly happened once, and he was someone who learned from his mistakes...

"Look! Settlers!" A young chicken suddenly exclaimed and pointed at the trail of wagons and stagecoaches, following each other towards the town.

Jake frowned and tilted his head. "What're they doin' this down in the south?" He cocked his head at Durango. "Don't they know that it's better to search for a settlement higher up? "

"I reckon the best spots would be taken right now... These guys are pretty late!" Durango stood up on weary legs. "Wanna go an' check 'em out?" He asked Jake with a grin.

Jake answered the grin. "Is there fires in Hell?" He responded dryly and cocked his head.

The two young reptilian boys soon caught up with the leading wagon. Sitting on the bench in the front was a basilisk couple with an little baby.

"Hey!" Durango shouted up to them and the male turned his head to the young lizard. "Where are y'all folks headed?!"

"Everywhere, sonny" The adult said and faced the road forward again. "Some of us will stay in this 'ere town, me and my family included, but most will probably continue on their way."

Jake nudged Durango on his shoulder with his snout. "Settlers in Skeleton Cliffs? Gee, I know some people who might not like that idea..." He said and tilted his head. Durango nodded and sprinted to catch up with the two basilisks again.

"Listen, mister. I don't mean to sound rude or nothin', but staying 'ere in Skeleton Cliffs isn't recommended! Most people 'ere don't take kindly to strangers and settlers!" Durango warned, but the two adult lizards chuckled.

"Thank you for yer concern, boys. But we know how to handle ourselves." The lady with a baby in her lap said and smiled towards the two boys.

"Exactly!" A fourth head popped out from behind the curtains. A young girl, with the fin on her head strangely curled inwards, frowned and glared at Durango and Jake. "If anyone of you messes with us, expect Hell back! We ain't backin' down from no one!" She said angrily.

"Clara! That's not an appropriate way for a lady to speak!" Her mother scolded. Her daughter, apparently called Clara, snorted and went back inside the trailer.

"That's Clara. Our daughter. Please forgive her, she's a really sweet gal. But she needs to learn how to keep her tongue in check!" The father said with a sad chuckle. He turned to the two boys again. "The name's Barley, by the way. James Barley. This'ere is my wife Fiona, and the little one is our second daughter Mary-Anne. You've already met our first daughter Clara." He introduced himself and his family.

Durango nodded. "My name's Durango Campbell, this is my friend Jacob West" He said and pointed to Jake, who also gave the Barleys a hasty nod. "We better go now. See ya 'round, mister!"

"See ya 'round, sonny!" James said and smiled to the two boys as they stopped and got left behind.

Suddenly, Clara popped her head out from the other end of the wagon, gave the two confused boys a mean look and reached out her tongue before disappearing into the wagon again.

"Gee, what's wrong with her?" Durango raised his eyebrows and glanced at Jake, who shrugged and shook his head from side to side.

Fiona turned to her husband. "Such nice boys, weren't they?" She smiled. James nodded.

"Mother!" Claras head popped out between her parents again. "Didn't you see that one of 'em was a rattlesnake?" She winced and groaned in annoyance when her father petted her on the head like she was some little kid or a pet.

"Now, now Clara. Let's not be judgmental here. Not all snakes are bad, y'know!" He said to her.

"Don't judge a book by it's cover!" Her mother backed him up. Clara admitted herself defeated with an angry snort.

"Fine, but I don't trust 'em! You shouldn't either!" She said and ended the conversation by going back inside.

After going from wagon to wagon, talking to everyone of the settlers, Durango and Jake ended the day by sitting on top on the steep cliff towering over the town, watching the caravan move on without three of its wagons.

The ones who stayed behind in Skeleton Cliffs were the Barleys, a large family of finches and a young couple of porcupines.

"Wonder what Mr Harvey will say 'bout this..." Jake grinned. "Remember when those Germans moved in next to his shop?" He said and turned his head slightly to Durango.

Durango chuckled and was about to respond when they heard someone clear their throat behind them.

"Jacob T West and Durango Campbell, so this is where you've been hiding!" A powerful, yet feminine voice behind them boomed and Jake recoiled slightly when facing his mother.

"Hi, ma!" He said and smiled innocently.

Carmen tilted her head and got a frown between her invisible eyebrows. "I've been lookin' all over town for you two!" She let her eyes wander from one boy to the other.

"Uh, yeah... Sorry, Miss! We lost track of time!" Durango said and scratched his neck.

"Lost track of time? Have you noticed the sun?" Carmen tilted her head to the other side and smiled.

Durango and Jake looked around. "No!" They said in unison.

"That's because its past sunset already!" The adult rattlesnake chuckled and shook her head. "What are you two doing up here anyway?"

"Nothing!" Both of them answered in unison again. Jake continued; "We're just watching the settlers, ma. Have you seen them yet?!" His eyes widened when his mother slowly nodded.

"I sure have! They seem nice, especially that Barley family..." She turned to Durango. "They're also basilisks, y'know!"

Durango crossed his arms. "Yeah, I know..." He mumbled and looked down on the ground.

Carmen giggled. "And I guess you've met their daughter too then, eh? I think she's 'bout your age!" She said and winked.

Durango grimaced. "Yuck! So? She's a yucky girl! Besides, she hates everyone!" He winced.

'Oh, you won't be saying that in a few years...' Carmen thought to herself and smiled. Suddenly a small dark brown head popped out from behind her back. Jake winced.

"What's she doing here?!" He said and frowned as his little sister hid behind their mother and shyly peeked out from her hiding spot in her mothers coils.

"Well, I can't just leave little Jo at home now, can I?" Carmen said and gave her young a loving nudge with her snout.

"Heya, Django!" Little Jolene said and waved with her little, and so far rattleless, tail.

"Howdy, Jo!" Durango smiled back. He actually liked Jolene, she was kinda sweet. So far. The rattlesnake neonate stayed hidden behind her mother and shyly looked from Durango to Jake.

Carmen smiled at her little daughter. "Jacob, I need you at home right now" She said and looked up. "You should head home too, Durango. "Your parents mus'be gettin' worried by now"

"Yeah, I know..." The lizard said and nodded. He didn't doubt for one second that his mother would worry. Father however, he was probably sitting on his chair around a table in the saloon with a hand of crappy cards.

"Why d'ya need me at home, ma?" Jake frowned.

"Well, I have to put Jolene to sleep so I need someone to do the dishes" Carmen answered and laughed at Jakes horrified expression.

"B-but!" He stuttered. "Since when do we use plates?"

"We don't, but Harvey does. He came by to help us fix the roof, remember?" His mother tilted her head. "And I couldn't let the poor man work on an empty stomach, now could I?"

Jake groaned and facetailed.

"Would you rather put Jolene to bed?" Rango asked his friend with a teasing smile.

"No!" The young rattlesnake furiously shook his head from side to side. "No no no! I'd rather do the dishes!"

Jolenes little head tilted to one side and frowned sadly. "Whay nawt?" She asked unhappily.

"Actually, that was a good idea, Durango" Carmen slowly said with a pondering face. "If you tuck you sister in, I could do the dishes! You seem to hate them so bad, plus I would for once be free from the pressure of finding a story that lil' Jo likes!" She winked to her daughter, who once again broke up in a gleeful smile. While Jakes face was a portrait of fear.

"I'll get ya for this!" He hissed at the laughing Durango as he left the cliff along with his mother and little sister.

"Bye, Django!" Jolene waved to him and when he waved back, she blushed and hurried to catch up with her family.

Durango himself stayed on the cliff for a while longer, looking at the moon and tried to make up his own constellations. He lost track of time, gazing into space. He had no idea how long he had been sitting near the edge of the cliff, wandering off into dreamsland, when he decided to get up and look for his father. The obvious place to search first was the saloon.

He climbed down, following the minetracks going up and down throughout the place. It was thanks to the mines that the town had prospered. The mines were full with iron, bronze and other metals. Unfortunately, no gold or silver were found. Yet.

The owner of the mines, Dwayne Wright, was determined that there were gold further in the mountain, and everyday he told his workers to keep digging and digging. Some people frowned upon this, saying that it would eventually become too dangerous as the mine became more and more unstable. The Zuni-indians claimed that the mountain was sacred and defiling it further would eventually anger The Great Spirit. But he never allowed anyone stop him in his quest.

Durango made his way into the town. He liked the town better at night than in the day. It was calmer, more tranquil. Unless you happened to walk outside the saloon, or the Skull Dollar Casino.

And this night seemed to be one of those nights when the saloon of Skeleton Cliffs was booming with activity. Activities of the violent type, that is...

Durango had to dodge to not get hit in the head by a stool that came flying through the doors. He sneaked closer and peeked in at the ruckus. Yep, another barfight. He had seen a lot of these, and they always ended up the same way with the sheriff coming in and steer everything back up, sending home the worst drunks. When speaking of the devil, here he comes!

The sheriff of Skeleton Cliffs was a tall and heavy built black-collared lizard. If there was someone Durango looked up to as a father figure, it was sheriff Doc Holliday. Sheriff Holliday could be several things at once. He could be both an icecold man with nerves of steel and a joker. A serious law enforcer you shouldn't resist arrest against if you wanted to keep all your limbs intact, and a gentleman. A man of the law who wasn't afraid of having some fun every now and then. And someday, Durango wanted to be just like him!

"Good evening, sonny!" Holliday said and tapped the brim of his hat to the young lizard. Durango nodded back. "So, y'don't happen to have any idea how this happened?" He stopped with his hand on one of the swing doors and turned his head to the kid.

The young lizard shook his head. "Nah, I just came here, sir. I'm lookin' for my dad! As usual..." He answered and scraped with his foot on the ground. He was just waiting for

The sheriff chuckled and leaned his elbow on the swing door. "Yeah, yer pa certainly have a knack fer things like this, eh?" He said with an amused smile. Durango nodded. "Well don't ya worry. I'm sure in there somewhere, just blowin' off some steam y'know!" The sheriff added and nodded to the fight going on behind him.

The younger lizard frowned. "Yeah? But shouldn't you go in there and stop it? Someone might get hurt!" He said and cast a worried glance in just as someone got a chair smashed on his head.

Holliday shrugged. "I guess I should... But so far I haven't seen any knifes nor heard any gunshots, so I think I'll let 'em go on 'bout if for a..." But before he could finished the sentence, a loud 'BANG!' was heard and a bullet flew into Hollidays hat, sending it flying. Holliday followed it with a surprised look on his face as it landed in the middle of the street. Holliday growled and marched inside. "ALRIGHT PEOPLE! That's 'nuff fer tonight, don'tcha think?!" He shouted, his powerful voice drowning the noise. People were protesting, trying to blame each other for who started the fight. Sheriff Holliday was probably stuck in there for over half an hour, while people one by one left the saloon, knowing that the show now officially was over. The people who left where all under the influence of the good ol' cactus juice, some more than others. Durango even saw some people who refused to leave and had to get dragged out by the ones that were sober enough. But he couldn't see his father anywhere, but he didn't want to go inside and check. He knew he wasn't allowed inside the saloon; Big Al, the barkeeper/saloon owner, would shoot him if he so much as took a step inside!

He was about to turn back and look elsewhere when his father, Benjamin Campbell, came tumbling. Obviously drunk as a skunk, but he tried his best not to show it. He, if anyone, really knew how to handle his liquor!

"Heya, squirt! Sheriff told meh you were waitin'!" He slurred and tried to cover up his blackeye with the palm of his hand, but ended up poking himself in the eye and cursing his 'god-forsaken finger'.

Durango crossed his arms and impatiently tapped his foot on the ground. "You were in the fight too, weren't ya?"

For the moment, the father and son had switched their roles. "Hey, I wasn't the one who started it!" The father answered as a pouting child, being confronted after have gotten caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar.

"Then who was?"

"I dunno, some settler lookin' for trouble... Hey, what are ya doin' here anyway, squirt?"

"It's in the middle of the night, dad. Mom gotta be worried sick!"

"Impossible! I just got here!"

Durango tilted his head and switched his balance over to the other foot. "Really? What time is it then?" He asked dryly.

Benjamin was thinking for a while. "Aw what the hell, don't be such a smartass all the time!" He hissed when he realized that it actually was nighttime already and the kid had been right.

Durango chuckled when the sheriff walked out on the street and shook his head with a displeased look on his face. He didn't want to start yelling at the irresponsible father in front of the kid, so he kept his mouth tightly shut. But he did nothing to hide the fact that he didn't approve of Benjamin Campbells performance as a father figure.

"Y'two should head home. Don't wanna keep the ladies waiting at home now do ya?" Holliday sighed and nodded in the direction of their house.

"Sure..." Benjamin mumbled and started walking with long, wobbly steps home.

"Yes sir!" Durango said and followed his father, to see if he could assist him in any way. He turned around back at the sheriff and smiled. "And by the way, thank you sir!" He added before continuing the trip back home. Sheriff Holiday tapped his hat to the youngster and returned back into the saloon for a drink, or maybe two.

Luckily, the family house wasn't far away from the main street, so the drunk Mr Campbell could, with only a few degrading trips, make it all the way. But before Durango as much as put his hand on the doorknob, the front door was yanked open and a very pissed off looking Penelope Campbell, Durangos mother and Benjamins wife.

"Well, well! Now it suits the boys to return home!" She snorted and crossed her arms.

"Oh my, have I ever told you how RAVISHING you look, m'dear?" Benjamin winked in an attempt to woo his angry wife.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Every time you're drunk!" She answered dryly and turned to her son. "Your curfew ended yesterday! MARCH TO BED!" She lashed out with her hand and pointed up the stairs. "NOW, young man!" She added when her son sighed and rolled his eyes at her.

Durango walked past his parents and slowly walked up the stairs, keeping his ears perked and listened to their conversation.

"A blackeye?! Don't tell me you've been in another fight?!"

"Hey, why is ev'ryone blamin' me?! It was that settler! He ASKED for it! I can't stand it when they come here and takes pieces of our lands!"

"What're we else s'pposed to do with 'em, genius?! I think it's good with some new people 'round here, people who can put our unused areas to use for somethin' good instead of just hoardin' 'em and watch 'em decay!"

The family was a bit... Awkward. Most of the time, their parents got along just fine. Until something that mother didn't approve off happened. Which actually happened a lot, since father spent most of his spare time on the saloon or in the newly built Skull Dollar Casino across the saloon. The children however, they never agreed on anything.

Durango entered the upstairs and glanced at the first door to the right, his older twin sisters room. His own room was the small one furthest away from the stairs.

'Please don't see me, please don't see me, please don't see me...' Durango kept chanting in his head when he sneaked past the half opened door, from which he could hear two girly voices talking and giggling. He would've made it past their room, if he hadn't been betrayed by a floorboard that creaked as soon as he stepped on it. The two girls got quiet and within seconds they were both at the door, grinning maliciously at their little brother.

"Hey Brandy... Hey Gin..." Durango mumbled and braced himself for the scolding that were coming from his teenage sisters.

"You're late, baby brother!" Brandy said and put her hands on her hips, leaning on her twin.

"Yeah! We had to eat supper without you! Guess what? It was cold! And y'know why? B'cause we had to WAIT forever in case you would show up!" Gin said, sounding stern with a wide, gloating smile on her lips.

Brandy and Gin, the names were also proof of their fathers love for alcohol. Both of them looked exactly the same, talked exactly the same, walked exactly the same, dressed exactly the same. Bet they even thought exactly the same!

"Hey! I'm sorry, 'kay? But dad wouldn't leave the saloon and..."

"And I guess you were daydreamin' away too, huh?" Brandy snarked, her sister nodded. Durango growled, resulting in the sisters smiles growing wider as they realized they had been right.

"Were ya dreamin' of becomin' the sheriff again?" Gin tilted her head, putting on her innocent face that always worked with mother and father.

"Too bad that this town ain't currently searchin' for a little boy to take Docs place!" Brandy added and stuck her nose up in the air. Her sister mimicked her action.

"I-I wasn't!" Durango growled and he could feel his cheeks turn bright red, causing his sisters to giggle even more.

"Brandy! Gin! You two were s'pposed to be 'sleep an hour ago! Why are ya still up an' harassin' yer brother?" Their mothers harsh voice was heard from the foot of the stairs. The two girls shouted that they were sorry, and gave Durango a last, malicious grin before going back into their rooms and shutting the door.

Durango sighed and walked the last steps to his room and sat down on his bed.

He had always thought that 'hate' was a strong word, but that word was probably the only fitting word to describe his feelings for his sisters. They always picked on him. They had always done it, and would always do it. Everything he did was nothing but mistakes in their eyes.

Jake always kept complaining about his 'annoying little brat for sister'. But Durango would gladly trade ANY of his sisters for Jolene! Preferably both! In Durangos eyes, Jake was really lucky. He had a sibling who looked up to him, instead of two big sisters who looked down at him...

He muttered something disgraceful about both Brandy and Gin and threw himself backwards on his bed.

'I'll show 'em!' He thought to himself as he felt his eyelids suddenly growing heavier each second. 'I'll show you both! I'll be the next sheriff! Just wait an' see!'

And with that promise echoing through his head, he let the world around him disappear bit by bit until he finally was engulfed in deep sleep.

*******

Thanks for reading ^^! Sorry if it was a bit long and boring, but there will probably be more things happening in the next chapters ;)... This chapter was more or less like an introduction of the three main characters; (Du)Rango, Jake and Clara ^^...

**Hope to see y'all next chapter :D!**

**Delilah OUT!**


	2. That's what friends are for!

**FINALLY done with the second chapter xD!**

**I've been sick with the flu for like, a week a half, and whenever I get sick, my mind goes all weird so I haven't dared to write anything for a long time :/... But I'm finally starting to feel better again nao :D! I hope my fever will be gone soon, that's the worst part actually! I can put up with the coughing and the waterfall from my nose, but the fricking fever is slowly killing me ;_;... Fever, ya know I hate it... Oh well, at least I'm free from school xD!**

**StonecoldAphrodite: Thanks :D! I won't forget about my other story :P, I'll probably update it just like I used to, maybe sometimes a little later now when I'm working on two stories ^^...  
Hahahahaha :D! Gawd that actually made me laugh xD! Hehehe, I'm sorry, I guess ^^**

***** Chapter Two : That's What Friends Are For! *****

Skeleton Cliffs August 25th 1840

The two lizards sat across each other on each end of the desk. One black-collared lizard, and one basilisk.

"Y'know Benjamin..." The sheriff solemnly said and looked at his old friend with a displeased frown. "This is the fourth time in three weeks that I've been forced to apprehend ya"

Benjamin the basilisk snorted. "Well, it's the fourth time in three weeks that those darn settlers 'been comin' to the saloon, asking for trouble!" He said in his defense.

Sheriff Holliday frowned and crossed his arms. "From what I've heard, it's you who won't leave 'em alone?" He said and cocked an eyebrow.

"I'll leave 'em alone when they leave ME alone!"

"You're actin' worse than a child!" Holliday raised his voice and leaned his elbows on the desks surface. "What kind of message do ya think this gives yer kids?" He said, lowering his voice.

The lizard across him shrugged. "I dunno, but they're all grown up anyway, ain't they?"

Hollidays eyes widened. He couldn't believe his ears. "Are ya still drunk, partner?! They're twelve and sixteen, right?"

"I dunno, I guess they are?"

Holliday shook his head and buried his face in his hands. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!" He moaned. "You don't even know how old yer kids are?! I oughta lock ya up fer good!"

"Why?"

"Why?! You're not a kid anymore, y'know!"

"Ugh, don't remind me... But you're just as old as you feel, right?"

"I'm serious, Ben! You've got wife and three kids to think about now!" Holiday said solemnly and pointed his finger towards the street just outside the window. "What about your son? He's growing up, he needs his father more now than ever before!"

Benjamin mumbled something incoherent and leaned back on the chair, putting his feet on the desk. "What's the point? The kids hates my guts!" He said and frowned.

"To their defense, I've gotta add that you haven't exactly been t'father of t'year..." Holliday implied and straightened up in the chair. "Listen, 'bout you an the settlers; I know what y'think 'bout our new neighbors, but if you'd only try t'git along with 'em, I think you also would see that they're good people! I mean, both your Penny and my Heather are already friends with t' women of t'families. And Carmen's real' close to the Barleys, even though their oldest daughter's terrified of snakes!"

"I'm NOT gonna befriend ANY 'em, if that's what you're implyin'!" Benjamin snorted.

"I'm not askin' ya to befriend 'em, just stop startin' fights with 'em! Not only does it give me helluva lot of work, but you're also helping t'disrupt the mood between us from Skeleton Cliffs an' t' newcomers!"

"Whatever..." The basilisk scoffed and folded his arms across the chest. "Can I go now?"

Holliday frowned. "Sure, in one condition though..."

"And what is that?"

"Can you at least have a talk with Durango? I've noticed that he's b'come kinda isolated lately. T' only one he hangs 'round with anymore is Jacob, and sometimes that Barley girl..." When the name Barley was mentioned, Benjamin snorted and shifted his legs. Sheriff Holliday ignored him and continued; "Aren't ya worried that he'll turn out as some sort of villain?"

"Absolutely not!" Benjamin exclaimed and got an annoyed look from Holliday. "I mean, his biggest dream since he learned to walk is to be the sheriff of Skeleton Cliffs! I doubt there's as much as ONE evil bone in his body!" He snickered. "And he's not as introverted as ya think, Holli. I bet y'know of the Barley girls ability to stir up trouble wherever she goes, right? Hell, I've seen Durango interfering between Barley and O'Briens kid more than once!"

Holliday raised an eyebrow. "That might be true, but you'll still talk to him, right?"

The basilisk sighed and threw his arms out. "Fine! Sure! 'Bout what?"

"Anything! Just so that he'll know that y'care 'bout him!"

Benjamin was quiet before he stood up from the chair. "Okay then..." He said and turned towards the door. He opened it to step out on the street when he paused and turned to the sheriff again. "Oh, and tell Al I'm really, really, REALLY sorry 'bout that chandelier! I didn't know it was gonna come down that easily!" He said with a slight chuckle. "Or that it would break..."

Holliday rolled his eyes and nodded. "Fine, just get outta my office b'fore I change my mind and locks you up 'til the next century!"

Benjamin didn't had to be told twice, as he bolted through the door and out on the main street.

The dried out river...

"I spy with my lil' eye somethin' that's heavy..."

"A rock?"

"Yup! Alright, I spy with my lil' eye somethin' that's hard..."

"Another rock?"

"Right again! I spy with my lil' eye somethin' that's brown..."

"Rock?"

"You're getting good at this! How 'bout this one; I spy with my lil' eye somethin' that begins with an R..."

"Rock..."

"Correct! I spy with my lil' eye..."

"Lemme guess, more rocks?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh, I dunno, except for the fact that there's NOTHING out here except ROCKS?!" The young rattlesnake said and his tail flew out in a gesture showing the barren landscape. The two youngsters were in what once had been the river stretching from Dry Creek and passed Skeleton Cliffs. But all the rainwater that had gathered from the last downpour were now long since gone, evaporated underneath the harsh sun. At least they still had their wells intact.

"There's sand too!" Durango said with a smirk.

"URGH!" Jake groaned and rolled over to his back, staring up at the clear sky. "Why are we even here?!"

Durango shrugged. "I dunno. Clara told us to go here, 'said she had somethin' to show us!"

The snake turned to his lizard friend and frowned. "No, she told YOU to go here and she had something to show YOU! She never 's much as talks to me!" Jake said and shook his head.

"But I bet she meant this for you too!"

"Absolutely not! She hates my guts! Why I'll never know, and you just dragged me along out 'ere b'cause you're afraid of her, isn't that right?"

Durango stood up from the rock he was sitting on and glared at Jake. "Are you saying that I'm AFRAID of Clara, a girl?"

"A girl that could kick yer ass with one hand tied b'hind her back!"

"That's a bloody lie!"

"Not! Don't you remember last year, durin' the summer solstice? She set fire to yer hat without you even noticin' it!" Jake smirked by the memory. "And when ya finally noticed, you were runnin' 'round in a circle, screamin' like a girl!" He shook his head. "Y'know runnin' is the worst thing ya can do when burnin' like a bonfire. I'm surprised ya didn't get hurt!"

"You mean like you did?"

"Huh? When?"

"Right now!" Durango said and was about to throw himself over the snake when he was interrupted by a loud laugh behind him. He turned around and saw Clara leaning on a spanish dagger on the riverside. The young basilisk female with the curled fin grinned widely when she saw that Durango noticed her and walked down to them. Durango blushed. How long had she been standing there?!

"Whats with the temper?" She teased and crossed her arms. "You really are afraid of me, ain't ya?"

"N-no!" Durango answered with hurt pride. He tried to change the subject; "Why are we here anyway? You told me to meet ya here?"

Clara grimaced. "Yeah, I told YOU to meet me here! I don't remember inviting Mr Slimy Scales over there though!" She replied with a nod to Jake.

Jake cocked an invisible eyebrow towards Durango. "See? I told you!"

"Why not?"

"Why would I?"

"Hey! Anywhere I'm goin', Jake's comin' along! Right?"

"Nyeah, most of the times at least!"

Clara sighed. "Fine, whatever! Follow me, before I change my mind!" She said and turned around, waving for them to follow.

Durango frowned. "Where are we goin'?" He said and glanced at Jake, who shrugged in response. He hadn't any idea either.

"It's somethin' I discovered yesterday" Clara answered and kept going forward, even though she glanced back every now and then to keep an eye on the snake.

They followed the dried out river until the they passed through a steep canyon. At least there were still some water left that ran through in a steady stream and vanished in a small tunnel underneath the ground.

Clara kept guiding them at the foot of one of the sides of the canyon for a little while.

"Is this the Crystal Canyon?! I think I've heard 'bout it b'fore!" Jake sudden said, looking around.

"I've heard that smugglers like places like these, I think we have to be careful!" Durango nodded.

"Why do boys always has to be such big wimps?" Clara suddenly stopped and inspected the wall thoroughly. "'I think we have to be careful'" She repeated with a mocking tone, followed by a snort. "This isn't the Crystal Canyon! The Crystal Canyon is way bigger, and it has a lot more water innit! Besides, it lies hundreds of miles away from here!"

"Well, excuse us then!" Jake and Durango mumbled in unison.

Suddenly she disappeared. The boys saw in horror as their friend were standing in front of them, the next moment she was gone.

"Clara?!" Durango exclaimed and rushed to the spot she had stood just a few seconds earlier. He yelped in surprise when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, shortly followed by a laugh and a familiar face poking out from a very well hidden crack in the wall.

"You should've seen your face!" Clara giggled. "What's the matter?! You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Durango jerked his hand back. "Funny, Clara. Funny!" He frowned.

"Anyway, it's in here! C'mon!" She said and grabbed his wrist again, pulling him into the crack. He followed her in, shortly followed by Jake. Jake had some troubles getting in. He would fit for now, but probably not when he were older.

"Look!" Clara came to a sudden halt when the small passage widened and the trio came to a great hall, where an underground river passing through in the middle. The waters flow was calm and an odd moss that grew on the walls illuminated the cavern with a dull, fluorescing light.

Durango and Jake both stood with their jaws agape. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"No offense, but you kinda suck on runnin' on water as you are now! So I thought, from one lizard to another, that I'd show ya this place. Train here and I might not have to be embarrassed to belon' to the same specie as you!" Clara said teasingly with a mocking smirk.

Durango walked up to the waters edge and looked down at the dark blue water. "How deep is it?" He asked and turned his head back to her.

She shrugged and snorted. "How should I know? You're not a chicken now, are ya?"

"No!" He said with a grimace and sat down on the ground to pull off his boots. "I'm gonna try this out at once!"

"This'll be good!" Jake said and grinned eagerly.

Clara folded her arms. "Nah, I doubt it..."

Durango threw his boots to the side and estimated the distance to the other beach before he backed a few steps. He bolted towards the water and made it about halfway before the surface tension gave in. He collapsed into the water and had to swim the rest of the way. As he rested on his knees, breathing heavily, he listened to his friends response.

"Hey! Not bad!"

"The walkin' handbag is right, that wasn't bad! It was downright lousy, Rang-Rang! My granny can run further than that!" Durango cocked an eyebrow to Clara and stood up. She saw that he reacted and laughed. "What's the matter Rang-Rang? Can't get across?"

Durango snickered and backed as far as he could, before he felt the opposite wall against his back. It was cold and moist and the moss felt slimy and it all sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. He suddenly dashed to and over the water again. This time he was only a few inches away from land when the water underneath him collapsed.

He got up on the beach and grinned at Clara. "Still lousy, eh?" He said and tried to wrench the water out of his clothes.

"Yeah, but it was better than the last time!" She winked.

Suddenly Jake froze with his eyes locked on one of the walls. "What was that you said 'bout smugglers?" He slowly said and nodded to a bunch of boulders stacked to the wall.

Durango squinted his eyes. The boulders did have a really weird shape. Almost rectangular, like crates? He frowned. "I think we should go..." He said and ran to fetch his boots. His two friends nodded and turned around to the entrance, but that's when they heard voices.

The three youngsters froze in fear when the voices became clearer. Someone seemed to have trouble squeezing through the crack. Clara was the one who regained the ability to move first and pointed to the crates. She ran to hide among them, with the two boys right behind her.

They got there just in time to see a large, mean looking spotted skunk enter the cavern. The possum was shortly followed by three others; an iguana with a terribly scarred face, a blackrat and a sidewinder rattlesnake. Probably the one who had troubles getting through.

"Ah swear! If we dun' git a biggah, BETTAH hideout, Ah'll EAT someone! An Ah dun' care who!" The sidewinder whined. Yeah, definitely the one with the size-troubles...

"Don't be such a whiny bitch, Luke! I'm sick an' tired of you complainin' 'bout everything!" The rat snapped back.

"Nevehmaind! Ah think Ah just decided who to eat!" Luke said and bared his fangs in an evil grin.

"Luke! Rob! Can you two knock it off already?!" The skunk said with a growl and turned to the iguana. "Scarface, what the hell are you doing?"

The iguana Scarface was glaring at the crates where the three kids where hiding. "I thought I saw somethin' movin'..." He said and fingered on his gun.

"Yeah! Nah when ya mention it..." The sidewinder said and lashed out his dark colored tongue to taste the air. "There's someone ovah there!" Luke snapped his large head towards the crates and his mean grin widened.

Durango felt his heart race. They were going be discovered unless he did something! He looked at his two friends, both were trembling with fear. "I have to go n' get help!" He whispered as silent as he could.

Clara stared wide-eyed at him. "Are ya crazy?!" She hissed. "First of all, how're ya gonna git past those brutes? And second, what 'bout us?!"

Durango searched on the ground and found a small pebble. "First, I'm gonna create a diversion by tossing this into the water, and while they've got their attention on the water, I'm gonna make a dash for the exit." He said and weighed the little rock in his hand. "Ya can't let those men see you! Hopefully, someone will see me and think I'm the only one!"

"What if someone doesn't believe that then? What'll we do?" Jake hissed and kept watching the smugglers.

Durango didn't know what to tell them. "J-just don't let them see ya! Trust me, I'll be back as soon as I can!" He lifted the pebble and tossed it.

It landed in the water, making a big splash. The four outlaws turned to the water and saw the circles the pebble had made. "Someone just went into the water?!" Rob exclaimed and ran up to the waters edge. "Can't see anythin' though!"

"Hurry up" Clara hissed at Durango as he stood up. He didn't answer her, instead he sprinted the short distance to the exit. Scarface spotted him just as he disappeared into the crack.

"Ross! Someone just ran outside! I think it was a kid!" Scarface said and pointed.

Ross the skunk turned to Luke. "Luke, eat!" The sidewinder didn't have to be told twice as he darted out after the young lizard, with a menacing and hungry grin on his lips.

"Aww man, I hope he'll make it!" Jake said nervously and coiled up into a ball, making himself as small as possible.

"He better!" Clara growled and watched with a worried frown how the rattlesnake squeezed himself through the crack with loud vulgarities emanating from his mouth in the hunt for the trespasser.

Durango ran out from the cavern and looked around. There were three roadrunners that hadn't been there before, standing tied up next to a dried out tree. He quickly ran to them, released them all except for one and clumsily climbed up in the saddle. He had only been on the back of a roadrunner a few times. Neither his family nor the Rattlesnake family owned any roadrunners so he never got the opportunity to learn how to ride. But hey, sometime's gotta be the first!

The snake popped his head out from the crack and smiled maliciously, awfully similar to the twins way to grin at Durango. "Thar ya are!" He hissed and tried to squirm the rest of his long body out.

Durango didn't waste any time chatting with the hungry snake. He managed to get the roadrunners attention away from the snake and soon they were heading back towards Skeleton Cliffs. Amazed by the speed of the runner, and how hard it actually was to keep his balance while the creature were running, he decided to get one of his own as soon as he could!

But those plans had to wait. Now, he was racing to save both his friends from the smugglers, and his own skin from the snake following him.

Minutes passed by excruciatingly slow for both parts.

"Somethin's not right..." Scarface mumbled and slowly walked up to the crates, his hand on the gun.

"Oh don't worry! Luke will be back soon, stuffed and happy! Hopefully we won't have to hear any whinin' from his mouth for a while!" Rob said and leaned back to the wall, but yelped in surprise when he felt the icy moss tickle his neck.

"That's not what I meant!" Scarface stopped and turned around.

"What did ya mean then?!"

"Sch!" Ross suddenly said and looked at the crates with a suspicious grimace. "I heard someone!"

That someone he heard was Jake, when he discovered what it was that they were smuggling.

"There's dynamite! Dynamite's everywhere!" He squeaked and withdrew even further.

"Shut up! Stop being such a little wimp! Aren't snakes s'posed to be big an' scary?!" Clara hissed angrily at him. Fed up with the rattlers whimpering.

"Hey! I'm nothing more than a little afternoon snack for these guys!"

"Shut! Up! They're coming this way!"

Jake gulped. It wouldn't take long before they were discovered by the smugglers! So, a confrontation was inevitable?

Durango decided to take the shortcut through the mining facilities. The workers would turn their heads when he passed in full speed on a terrified roadrunner, and then get out of the way or go into hiding when the snake followed.

The young lizard clenched to the reins and just prayed that he wouldn't fall off. The only thing that kept the bird running was the crazy sidewinder chasing them. Durango looked behind him for a short second, just to discover that the snake were catching up to them, FAST!

But while he had his attention on their follower, he didn't see the low beam on a minecart track.

BANG!

The hit still echoed trough Durangos head as he lay spread eagle on the ground, black dots dancing in front of his eyes. 'No no no! I can't fall unconscious now!' He thought to himself and tried to move, but every movement sent a jolt of pain up to his head. He felt something warm and wet slowly trickle down on his face. Blood? Great. Mother would freak...

Suddenly he heard a bone chilling laughter coming closer. "STOPID BOY! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Luke laughed and before Durango got could get up on his feet again, the snake had wrapped himself around him, trying to squeeze the life out of him. "Ya put up a good chase, kiddo! Gotta give ya that! Too bad Ah'm so hungry raight now!"

Durango had never been this scared in his life. To slowly get crushed to death was worse than anything he had ever imagined. He whimpered as the air in his lungs were forced out and he could swear that he heard a rib or two snap.

Suddenly the dry sound of a rattle surprised Luke. He slowly eased on the grip when he turned around and found himself eye to eye with a large, red diamondback. A very pissed off diamondback.

"D-Dwayne!" Durango sighed in relief. He had never been this happy to see anyone before.

Dwayne Wright, owner of the Skeleton Cliffs mines and recently became the lucky husband of Carmen, Jake and Jolenes mother. He was her not-so-secret admirer ever since he first lay his eyes on the single mother two years ago, and spent most of his time trying to win her heart. Because of her two previous relationships, Carmen had built up quite a tough shell to anyone trying to break through. But slowly, day by day, she started to warm up to the charming rattlesnake, and they got married a year later. Jolene absolutely adores her new dad, while Jake, remembering what kind of guy Carmens last love interest was, he is still quite hostile to Dwayne and refuses to call him his dad. Durango though, really liked this guy. He didn't seem so bad. He was nice, funny and hated injustice just as much as Durango did.

But if he wanted to, he could become one of the scariest men ever born. Just like now, when he raised himself over the smaller rattlesnake and glared at him with eyes seemingly burning with anger.

"Really, dude? You trespass in MY mine, breaking everything in your path without the audacity to even a lil' 'I'm sorry'?" He said with a stern voice and raised an eyebrow. "I oughta rip your guts out, mate!"

"Whatta' ya talkin' 'bout? Ah di'n't see any mine..." Luke spat and looked around. "Oh..." He said when he realized that he had actually been led through a mining area by the kid. And left a trail of destruction. "Well, gee! Ah'm might' sorry 'bout yer mine!" He hurried to say and squeezed the kid again, causing Durango to yelp in pain. "And if ya don' mind, Ah've got sum bis'ness with this lil' brat...!"

"I DO mind!" Dwayne cut him off. "That 'lil' brat' happen to be my stepsons best friend. Let him go NOW! Or I'll just have to rip your tail off and shove it back down your throat!" Dwayne growled and leaned in closer. "Get the picture, mate?"

Luke backed off and reluctantly released the young lizard, who fell into a gasping pile on the ground and whimpered when the pain flared out both in his head and chest at the same time. The sidewinder suddenly snapped around and lashed out at the rattlesnake with an angry hiss. Dwayne had been expecting the attack, but was still caught by surprise when the other snake charged at him. Luckily, Luke didn't seem to have all the Indians in his canoe, since he chose to attack a snake that was at least twice his size.

Dwayne easily deflected his attack and had disarmed him in a matter of minutes; tied around a pole in a fashionable bow and with at least ten guns pointed at him.

"If you as much sneeze, my men here will shoot you! Be a good boy and stay put until our sheriff comes, hopefully he'll have more pity for you than me!" Dwayne warned Luke and the sidewinder scowled unhappily.

"M-mister Wright! D-Dwayne!" Durango coughed and tried to stand up straight on his shaky legs.

Dwayne turned around to the kid and tilted his head. "Are you alright? Do you mind telling me what the hell that was all about?"

"P-please, mister... Mister Wright! I-I... I need to see the sheriff...! J-Jake and Clara are... in danger!" He wheezed and wobbled around as a drunkard when his legs threatened to fail him. The ground underneath him was spinning and his whole body ached. His head felt like it was going to explode and when he put his hand on his forehead, he noticed it became covered in blood.

Dwayne nodded and put his head down on the ground. "Alright kiddo! All aboard the snake-express!" He said and nodded to Durango to climb up on his neck. He did a skeptical grimace, but managed to crawl up on the snake and clenched to the bandana the serpent wore on his head. "You guys heard me before! If the scumbag as much as moves, shoot! And you little guy, just hold on tight and bear with me until we're there!"

Durango gulped and nodded, feeling nauseous. This was without a doubt the weirdest thing he had ever done!

"We know you're there!" Ross yelled and his words echoed throughout the cavern. "Come out 'ere and we won't hurt ya!" His patience was running out every second. They knew there were someone hiding amongst the goods.

Clara leaned her head on one of the crates. "I knew it! He just ditched us, didn't he?! He saw a chance to save his own hide and took it!" She hissed with clenched teeth. "Heh, one would think that he really is a snake, instead of a lizard..."

"Don't be stupid!" Jake spat.

Surprised by his response, Clara turned her head and snarled at the young rattlesnake. "Oh really? He's been gone a long time now! Just face it, snake! That coward ditched us both, an' if I ever survive this, I'll find him and strangle him!"

"Durango would NEVER do that!" Jake said and started to root through a crate. "Plus, he's chased by that snake, remember? He's gotta do whatever he can to stay alive right now, so that he can tell the town!" He gently picked up a dynamite and placed it in his coils. "Ya got matches?"

"First of all, snake. You're just pathetic, trying to defend your 'friend', even though y'know I'm right. Second, why are ya askin' me for matches?!"

"Gee, ya really got some trustin' issues, haven't ya?" Jake rolled his eyes and started to slowly unwrap the paper around the dynamite. "Well, I know how much ya like to light stuff on fire. Ya got 'em or not?"

"Yeah, I've got matches. But ya gotta be crazy if you think I'll give 'em to you! You seem to have a really smart plan goin' on there! Why not blow the place up?! It'll be TONS of FUN to be buried alive with those creeps, ya dumbass!"

"Don't worry! Dwayne has showed me how dynamites works, and if I just remove the stuff that makes it go boom, it'll be nothin' but an ordinary piece of junk!" He said and turned his face to Clara again. "Listen, I know ya hates my guts, you hate all snakes!"

Clara nodded. "That's quite the observation!" She answered cynically and folded her arms.

"But please, just trust me for once! I think I've got a pretty solid plan goin' on here, but it'll never work without your help..." Jake sighed. "Please?"

Clara frowned and looked like she was pondering for a while. Eventually, she moaned and started to root through the pockets in her dress for the matches. "I've gotta be outta my damn mind for trusting a rattlesnake..." She mumbled and listened, with the little box of matches in her hand, to Jakes plan. It sounded really crazy, but it might just work!

"We're getting' real' sick of this lil' game of yers! If ya don't come out from there until I've count to ten, then we're coming over there!"

No answer.

Ross grinded his teeth and began to count; "One... Two... Three... Four..."

Still no sign of life. "Five... Six... Seven..." He grabbed his shotgun and made sure it was loaded. "Eight... Nine..."

"Wait! We're comin'!"

The sudden voice surprised the three smugglers. It sounded like a young girl.

And a few seconds after the voice spoke, two kids popped their heads up above the stock of crates. One was a rattlesnake, the other one a lizard. Couldn't be more than 10-12 years old. Wait, the lizard was a girl?!

The two young reptiles walked (and slithered) out from their hiding spot. Ross' face got a victorious smirk and rested the shotgun over his shoulder.

"Well, well, well!" Rob snickered. "What do you brats think you're doin' here? This isn't a playground y'know! And you just lost a playmate b'cause of this!"

The lizard girl shrugged. "So? He was nothin' but a coward!"

"Eh, yeah! Good riddance!" The snake nodded.

"What do you two think you're doin' here?" Ross repeated Robs question.

"Hey! We were just lookin' 'round an' found this place by chance! You guys just scared us, that's all!" The young girl looked around. "It's a pretty nice place..." Her eyes locked on the crates stacked behind them. "What're ya gonna do with all this dynamite...?"

"That's outta yer god damn business!" Rob spat was about to take a step forward when the lizard pulled out a dynamite from behind her back. The three smugglers flinched.

"These things blows pretty high... Don't they, Jake?" She grinned smugly at her friend, who nodded.

"And imagine if ALL this dynamite were to blow up?" He said and glanced at the crates. "Happy 4th of July!"

The lizard laughed and pulled out a match from her pocket, and the smugglers pulled their guns.

"Put the match down, girl!" Ross hissed.

The lizard girl cocked an eyebrow at him. "Or what? You'll shoot me? Go ahead, there's only a bunch of boomsticks behind me that could ignite, no worries!" She mocked and lit the match on a nearby crate. Ross growled, but didn't squeeze the trigger. "Listen, me and my friend just wanna git outta here. None of us are especially afraid of death, so threatening to kill us won't work. However..." She smirked and put the dynamites fuse closer to the flame. "We wouldn't mind goin' out with a boom, though. What 'bout you, fellas?"

Clara smiled when she saw the three smugglers pale faces. So far so good...

"Just let us go, or I'll blow this place up as it was the fourth of July!" She said, both her and Jake started to slowly go past the trio, towards the exit.

"You don't have the guts to do it, you little brat!" Rob snorted with a smirk and pulled back the hammer on his gun.

Claras eyes flashed angrily. "Oh really?" She hissed and lit the fuse. "NEVER tempt me!" Jake gulped. He had picked the one with the longest fuse, it would probably last for 20 seconds. 20 seconds before their bluff was going to be discovered.

The three smugglers quickly took a few steps back. Ross and Scarface glared at Rob. "What?! I didn't know she was gonna do it!"

"Gentlemen!" Clara said when they finally reached the entrance. 15 seconds left. "Thank you for your cooperation!" She said and bowed deeply before throwing the dynamite with the lit fuse at Rob. "Think fast!" She vanished after Jake in the hole, avoiding the bullets Scarface fired after them.

"Eeek! Git it away from me!" Rob shrieked and threw the dynamite to Scarface.

"Are you dense?! Don't give it to me!" Scarface spat and threw it back.

"JUST PUT IT OUT, YOU MORONS!" Ross snatched the dynamite from Rob and extinguished the fuse. But then he noticed the paper. It felt... weird. Almost as it had been removed...

He ripped it open and discovered that the dynamite indeed had been opened and its contents had been picked out. He cursed and threw it on the ground. "Git 'em!" He ordered and the three outlaws went after the kids.

"Now what?!" Clara asked Jake when they finally got out.

"I dunno! I never planned this far..." Jake admitted a bit ashamed. Clara made a strangling noise.

"Why you little, slimy..." She hissed and was about to throw herself over the rattlesnake when they heard the outlaws screaming inside.

"Time's up!" Jake said. Clara growled and made a run for it, with Jake after.

Jake followed her where the river had gone into a sidetrack. "Where are we goin'?" He shouted.

"I have no idea!" Clara responded. Jake moaned. Great. They were being chased by a band of smugglers and they didn't even know where they were going.

And according to Murphys Law, they ran into a dead-end. Clara cursed and turned around, just as the outlaws caught up. Since someone, possibly a certain snake, had scared their runners away, they had been forced to follow the kids by foot. Rob was panting heavily and his legs shook.

"You made me run, I HATE running!" He hissed and slowly put his hand on his gun. The two youngsters backed away until they stood with their back to the wall.

"No more playin' 'round!" Ross growled. "I oughtta finish ya both off, right here and now. But I don't like hurting children, so we'll just have to wait for Luke to come back..." He said with a confident grin.

Rob whined. "But I don't mind! I can take care of these BRATS!"

"Shut up, Rob!"

Clara smirked. "What's the matter?" She said and crossed her arms. "The only one with the guts in this gang is the slimy piece of boot-materials?"

Jake nervously gulped again. "Clara... " He said and tapped her shoulder. He pointed to the canyons walls, where the shadow of a large snake appeared.

"Speakin' of the devil and here he comes!" Rob laughed. "Hey! Luke! We've got some' more for ya here! Ya big, hungry lug!" He shouted and waved. That seemed to catch the snakes attention as the shadow began to move and grow bigger and bigger. When they heard the rustling sound of large scales being dragged over sand, Jake suddenly protectively placed himself in front of Clara.

"What do you think you're doing, handbag!?" She exclaimed in surprise.

"New plan..." Jake said without looking at her. "I distract these clowns and you make a run for it, 'kay?"

Clara frowned. "What?"

"Ya heard me! Wait, is that...?" Jake lifted his head and frowned. Clara looked at the approaching snake again and cheered. Instead of Luke, poking his head around the corned, it was none other than Jakes stepfather. "Dwayne?!" The younger rattlesnake said in disbelief. The three smugglers hadn't been prepared for the surprise and stared in shock at the strange rattlesnake.

Dwaynes face lit up in a big smirk when he saw that the children were unharmed. "There ya are! And there YOU are, mister outlaws!" He turned to the smugglers and slithered closer. "So you're the ones who put my stepson and his friends in danger, eh? I don't think I like the looks on your faces, mates! You wouldn't mind if I ripped them off for you?"

"Stand back!" Ross shouted and brought his shotgun up, aiming it at Jake. "I'll shoot if ya come any closer!"

"Drop the gun!" A second voice said and a black-collared lizard appeared next to the rattlesnake. He held a shotgun aimed at Ross. "I said drop it!"

Ross growled, but didn't throw the gun away until three more guns were pointed his direction. His men followed their boss example and held their hands up in the air.

"That's a good boy!" Dwayne smirked at Ross and without matter of seconds, he had wrapped himself around the three outlaws. Who needs cuffs when you've got a rattlesnake?

Jake and Clara ran up to sheriff Holliday. "Where's Durango!?" They both asked in unison. Holliday frowned, making the two youngsters fear the worst about their friend. "I-is... he...?" Clara quietly asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yeah, Rang-Rang's okay alright! But he looks like crap! He looks like he's been run through a wringer or somethin'! Poor little guy, he fainted as soon as he had given us the story!" Dwayne said as he made his way past them with the three smugglers in a tight grip. Clara and Jake sighed heavily in relief.

Before they left the canyon with the adults, Clara turned to Jake. "Eh, you handbag..." She said and looked down on the ground. Jake tilted his head. "Eh, thanks... For, y'know... Protecting me back there..." She mumbled. She had never thanked a snake for anything before, this was an odd feeling.

Jake smile and nodded. "Don't worry 'bout it!" He said and continued to slither behind his stepfather.

Later that night, Clara and Jake came to Durangos house, and Dwayne hadn't been kidding when he said that their friend looked like a mess; He had a black-eye the size of an orange and a bandage wrapped around his head. More bandage covered his right hand, that he held in a sling, and his skin underneath the various amounts of fabric around his torso were covered in bruises. They believed that at least two ribs were broken. He looked like he had been in a train wreck. No wonder Penelope had a mental breakdown when she saw her son.

"... Wow! You look like a mummy or somethin'!" Clara exclaimed and walked up the bed. "Does this hurt?" She snickered and poked his arm. He yelped.

"Whaddya think?!" He winced and jerked his damaged arm away from her. "Of course it hurts! That Luke-guy almost broke it!"

"Hey Rang-Rang..." Jake said and tilted his head. "Ehm, thanks a lot buddy! You probably saved our lives back there..."

"Anytime..." Durango answered and held a suspicious eye on Clara, whom he knew enjoyed to cause him pain by poking his bruises.

"Yeah! I can't believe you actually did it!" Clara said and looked down. "I-I actually doubted you before... I'm sorry..." She said and actually sounded like she was giving an honest apology. Durango was about to tell her that it was okay, but then she knocked him on his head. "Does THIS hurt?!" He growled and moved to the other side.

"By the way, what did Brandy and Gin say when they saw you?" Jake asked.

Durango grimaced. "Heey baby brother!" He said in a hilariously distorted and girlish voice. "What did you do this time? Run into a cacti? Yeah! You should really watch where you're goin', baby brother!" Clara nearly doubled over with laughter while Jake smirked. "As soon as I'm becoming the sheriff, I'll lock 'em up for good!" Durango mumbled just as someone knocked on the door.

Sheriff Holliday stepped inside. "Am I interrupting?" He asked, the three kids both shook their heads and said "Naah". Holliday nodded. "Good! Y'know, these guys were wanted in the state for smuggling and robbery. And we have all decided to let you have a share of the reward: 300 dollars to split. I mean, it was thanks to you that these guys got caught!"

The three youngters eyes widened. "300 dollars?!" Jake exclaimed. "Really?!"

"That's a lot of money!" Durango turned to Jake. "What're ya gonna do with yer share!?"

Jake shrugged. "I dunno! You?"

"I'll get myself a roadrunner!" Durango said and grinned widely. "I hope Mr Harold's got a cheap one I can buy!"

"A roadrunner?"

"Yeah! So what?!"

Holliday chuckled. "I leave that for you three to discuss. I'll keep 'em safe in the office, you can come an' get 'em whenever you want!" He said and left the room while the two boys were repeating "Thank you, sir! Thanks a billion, sir!"

Clara sighed and walked towards the door. As if they were going to share it with her anyway. Oh well, the adventure was fun... Maybe she could drag the boys into more trouble tomorrow? Or maybe as soon as Rang-Rang could walk again...

"Hey, Clara! What're you gonna do with yer share?!" Durango suddenly asked her, which caused her to turn around.

"Huh?"

"What're ya gonna do with yer money?" He repeated himself.

"My money? You're letting me in on the reward too?" She asked, sounding a bit dumfounded.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Well, duh!"

"But, it was all my fault? If I hadn't showed you that cave, then none of this would've happened!" She shook her head.

"Exactly!" Durango said and smiled. "If it weren't for you, we would never have gotten those thugs behind bars! And we wouldn't have gotten any money for it either!" He turned to Jake and laughed. "Plus that was one hell of an adventure, right partner?!"

"Hehe, yeah..." Jake chuckled. "Perhaps a little too exciting..."

"Yeah... Besides, friends share everything with each other!" Durango continued. "So, what ARE ya gonna do with your 100 bucks?"

"Friends..?" Clara bit her lip. "Y-you guys see me as your friend?" She stuttered with a voice that threatened to break.

"Well, yeah!" Durango tilted his head. "Aren't ya?"

Clara turned around again. "Oh I dunno, I've seen a dress at the tailors, maybe he'll give me a good price for it... It looks really pretty!" She shrugged. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow! Gotta go home before my parents goes MENTAL!" She said and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. "See ya tomorrow, Clara!" Durango and Jake shouted after her.

She walked with determined steps through the corridor, past Durangos sisters room, the twins watching her with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow, down the stairs before she finally got made it to the bottom floor. She nodded to Durangos father, who was sitting behind the kitchen table with a bottle of cactus juice and scurried out through the door.

Well outside, Clara bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from dancing around like some crazy weirdo.

She had friends?! The other kids she met in her previous homes and in the settlers caravan, had never liked her. She was too rowdy to be a girl, but too girly to be one of the boys.

Except for Durango and Jake. They saw her as one of them! Sure, those two were the weirdest and silliest boys she met, but still. They were her friends! Hehe, and they had no idea what she had planned for them!

Benjamin leaned back on his chair as he heard Clara slam the door shut. "What a pain..." He mumbled and took a sip from the bottle in front of him. He really didn't like having any of those dirty settlers in his home, but what could he do? She was Durangos friend. He mumbled something and took another sip.

That talk he was supposed to have with him today would have to wait a few days... Holli wouldn't like it, but screw that guy! Ever since he got that badge, he's been treating his old friends as stupid kids! Mister Goody Two-shoes! Always on the right side of the law! Benjamin grinned. He remembered the time when he, Holli, Al, Carmen and Clint would sneak out and maybe set one or two roadrunners free. Perhaps even 'borrow' something from the General Store. Those were good times. Good times!

But sheriff Holliday did say something a few minutes ago that got him thinking: "You've got a brave kid, Ben. Maybe he doesn't need ya after all..."

Benjamin frowned. Was the Goody Two-shoes right? Strangely, he didn't want the sheriff to be right...

**And that was chapter two xD! Holy crap, it's the longest chapter I've ever written :o! I wrote about halfway when I got sick, so having this chapter half-finished has really bugged me for the last two weeks -.-...**

**Anyway, I hope to see y'all next chapter :D!**

**Delilah OUT!**


	3. Like an Arrow

**Woohoo! Next chappie xD!**

**Just came back from USA, and lemme just make a little political outburst here:  
YESSS! Obama gets to sit on the throne four more years :D! AWESOME! Yes, I know he's been really slow with his promises, and the economy hasn't exactly improved. But hey! It's a bit better now since Bush left, he really scewed everything up... Never liked him...  
And I've never seen a bigger asshat than Romney -.-... Talking 'bout a brown tongue and empty head... So for at least the largest part of my family, Obama was the obvious choice ^^!  
Besides, I think Obama is one of the most epic presidents US ever had :D! **

**At least that's my opinion x3... So, now I've been enough politician for the rest of the year xD!**

**This chapter won't be so long, it's basically about an accident just after he got Arrow, and how Arrow got her name xD**

**Ain't got much to say... Enjoy xD!**

***** Chapter Three : Like An Arrow *****

The Barleys Farm 20th August 1841

The black roadrunner was doing whatever it seemed that roadrunners did best: ran. Round and around in the big, empty corral on the Barley farm.

Durango was sitting on the fence, studying the runner he bought three months ago. He had gotten her pretty cheap from Mr Harolds, a powerful ranchowner, for two reasons: first was that she's too young to be broken in yet. But that wasn't a problem, Mr Barley had promised to help Durango with that when the time comes.

The real issue was the second reason: the roadrunners temper. She refused to let just anyone as much as to touch her, even less put a bridle on her. During the three months, she had learned to let Durango enter the corral. But that was about it; she would never let him get close enough. Clara was okay, but she would attack Jake if he ever were trying to enter the paddock.

"Got a name for 'er yet?" Clara was sitting next to Durango on the high fence, studying the bird whom by now had stopped running around and was picking at the ground with her long, sharp beak.

"Nah... " He answered and shook his head.

The two youngsters were quiet for some time, before Clara broke the silence: "Hey! Have you seen Jake today? I haven't seen that big dope all day!"

Durango shrugged. "I bet he's just sleepin' under a mesquite or somethin'" He answered and pulled one of the corners of his mouth up in a lopsided grin. "He's been complainin' for weeks 'bout how tired he is! Says that Blake keeps wakin' him up ev'ry night..."

Blake was the newest member of the Rattlesnake family. He was born just a few months ago and the little infant neonate had already caught the heart of half of Skeleton Cliffs inhabitants. They say he's the spitting image of his father, and his father couldn't be more proud.

Clara giggled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I can relate... When Mary-Anne was that age, she could keep the whole caravan awake all night if she wanted to..." She said and glanced at her little sister, 'helping' their mother with the crops. Even though she mostly tripped over them and threatened to squish them when she stomped around like her mothers tail.

"And her sister were exactly the same loud and stubborn lil' tyke!" Mr Barley added when he passed them, carrying tools to repair the stableroof. "Except you've kept that behavior 'til this very day!"

"Daaad!" Clara growled, causing James to chuckle as he continued on his way to the stable. Durango couldn't help but to giggle along, but a homicidal look from Clara told him that he better shut it. Suddenly her face changed to a shocked expression, shortly to be cleaved by a wide smile as she stared into the corral. "Look!" She whispered and nodded to Durango to turn his attention to his bird. He slowly turned around and found that the black roadrunner had stopped picking for food and walked up to the two youngsters. She now stood and curiously nibbled at Durangos pants. She stopped pecking at the pants when she noticed that the two lizards had stopped talking. She raised and tilted her head, looking at her young master with a curious look. He slowly extended her hand towards her. She looked at the hand, and then to Durango. She squawked and jabbed the hand with her sharp beak. The young lizard yelped in pain and the bird scurried back into the middle of the enclosure.

"Smooth, Rang-rang... Smooth..." Clara said sarcastically and raised her eyebrow at her friend, jumping around and frantically waving his injured hand.

"Hey! It hurt!" He scowled and stopped waving the hand, instead looking with an angry grimace at the little bruise he got where she pecked him; between the index finger and his thumb.

"Don't be such a wimp! You've been through worse!" Clara sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Speakin' of which... Ya know it's nearly a year ago since we ran into those smugglers..." She added, pondering.

He stopped feeling sorry for his hand and looked at her. "Huh? It is?" She nodded. "Wow... It doesn't feel like that long..." He said and looked at the roadrunner again. He climbed back up on the fence and waved with his injured hand at the bird. "AND I'LL GET YA BACK FOR THIS! Ya stupid featherbrain!"

Suddenly the bird perked up and stared at Durango with the crest on her head risen. Durango frowned. The bird couldn't understand him, could she?

The roadrunner hissed and bolted at him with her wings spread out from the body and her head held low. Apparently she DID understand him. And she didn't like what he called her.

Durango shrieked and fell backwards on the ground when the roadrunner came to a screeching halt right in front of him. She poked her head out through the fence and hissed again before turning her face to Clara, who managed to sit still on the fence.

"Don't worry! I don't think you're a stupid bird!" She said and held up her hands. The roadrunner looked sceptically at Clara before turning back around and trotted away with her beak proudly pointing to the sky. "Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Clara shook her head and looked at her friend, who still lied sprawled on his back in the sand. "I reckon you two need to work on yer relationship!" She said with a snicker.

Durango cocked his head at her. "Really?" He mumbled.

**Later that evening**...

**The****Campbell Residence...**

"Haven't you two got somethin' better to do?!" Durango complained at the two teenagers blocking his path in the stairs.

They both shook their heads and Brandy stretched out her hand; "Listen, baby brother. We'll let ya pass if ya give it back!" She said and twitched her fingers for extra emphasis.

Durango frowned. "Give what back?"

"Don't play dumber than what ya already are!" Gin spat and crossed her arms. "'Cuz that ain't possible!"

"Then refresh my memory: what is it 'I took'?"

"Tryin' to git smart now, baby brother? Ya know very well that our piggy bank is gone!" Brandy crossed her arms too and the two sisters glared accusingly at their little brother.

"Wait, are ya tryin' to say that I took it?"

"Who else?" The sisters said in unison.

"I dunno, but it ain't me! I'm not sure you two may have noticed it, but last year me an' my friends busted a couple o' smugglers an' got a share of the reward money. I've got NO reason to steal money from anyone!"

Gin leaned closer to her brother. "Yes ya do!"

"Maybe that bird ya bought was more expensive than you thought?" Brandy added.

Durango sighed and rolled his eyes. "No, she was cheap as hell, and..."

"First!" Brandy interrupted him with a stern voice. "Ya know what mom would do if she heard you talk like that! And second; hmmm, I really DO wonder why she came so cheap?" The last thing she said sarcastically and grinned at her sister.

"I think those two are perfect for each other!" Gin giggled.

Brandy nodded. "I know! Both of 'em are worthless lil' cowards, causin' trouble for everyone!" She agreed and stared at her brother with a cocky grin.

"She's NOT a coward!" Durango hissed. "Now MOVE! I didn't steal yer bloody piggy bank, and I'm way too tired to be standin' here arguin' with you!"

"Give us a break! You're the only one who could've taken it!" Gin said.

"Yeah! And you'll NEVER be a good sheriff if you're gonna be walkin' 'round, stealin' peoples stuff!" Brany added.

Durango clenched his teeth together. "MOOOOM! THEY WON'T LET ME PASS!" He shouted down the stairs.

He could hear the slamming of dishes and their mothers voice was heard: "Will you three knock it off already?! I've got other things to do than to run back and forth just to keep an eye on you!"

"But MOOM! He took our piggy bank and he won't give it back!" The two sister replied at the same time.

The heard another slam from the kitchen and their mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "What's it 'bout this time!?" She moaned and wiped her hands on the apron.

"We just told you! He took our piggy bank and now he expects us to believe that he's innocent!"

"How do ya know it was him?" Penelope said and put her hands on her hips.

"Mom, he's the only one who could've taken it!"

"Yeah! He was the only one home at the time!"

"When did it disappear?"

"Three days ago!" They both answered at the same time.

Penelope raised an eyebrow and looked at her son. "Is this true, Durango?"

He shook his head. "No, mom! Why would I?! I mean, I've still got some of the reward money from last year!"

Penelope nodded and turned to her two daughters. "He's got a point." She said. "Why would he steal from you? You'll need a motive to go with that accusation!"

The two sisters were going to answer, but they were interrupted by a series of loud bangs on the door. Penelope turned to go and open the door with silent curses. "Who's it now?"

"It's Clara, ma'am!" Was the response.

Durango cocked his head with a puzzled look. "Clara?" He said when his female friend bolted inside as soon as Penelope opened the door. She was breathing heavily and small droplets of sweat ran from her forehead. Had she been running all the way from the farm?

"R-Rang!" She panted and leaned on her knees. "I-it's yer 'runner! She's escaped and they can't catch her! Mr Harold's there, and he's talkin' 'bout shootin' her!"

Durango's eyes widened. He sprinted down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. "Gotta go, mom! I'll be right back!" He said as he bolted through the door, with Clara soon behind.

Penelope just sighed and closed the door after them and turned to the twins, still standing on the top step of the stairs, blocking the way. "I'm goin' back to do the dishes now. You are more than welcome to join me" She said and the tone in her voice indicated that it wasn't just a suggestion. The two sisters grimaced at each other and went down to help their mother with the dishes.

Durango got a shock when he arrived at the Barley farm. Mr Harold had brought some of his cowboys along and they were busy trying to lasso the escapee, but to no avail. The black roadrunner was much faster than them, and she always managed to evade the loop being thrown around her neck. However, one must've succeeded, since she already had a rope around her neck and the ripped off loose end was trailing after her. Durango stared. Damn! She was fast!

The two youngsters ran up to Mr Harold and James, who were both watching from a distance with some more men, ready to aid if necessary. Durango frowned when he saw the rifle Mr Harold was carrying.

"I ran as fast as I could! What happened?" The young lizard panted heavily from all the running while Clara looked like she was fatigued enough to collapse any second.

"Ah'm afraid it's mah fault." Mr Harold shook his head. He was a heavy chuckwalla with an habit to dress entirely in white. Rather unpractical if you live in a place like this... Also, his son was one of the most obnoxious lizards in the West according to Clara. "Ah was just comin' over 'ere for a bus'ness related matter, n' Ah was just gonna put mah 'runner in an empty corral. Only problem t'was it ain't empty, n' this devilbird charged at me!" He grimaced. "Ah'm might' sorry 'bout this, kid. Ah should've just d'sposed of 'er as soon as Ah could...But don't ya worry now! Ah'll give ya a new one, free of charge!" He said and grinned to Durango as he patted the rifle he held in his lap.

Durango hurried to shake his head. "No! Don't shoot her! Lemme try an' catch her!"

Mr Harold raised an eyebrow. "Suit yerself, kid..." He said and pulled out a revolver. Durango felt a twinge of fear that he would shoot the roadrunner anyway, but luckily he just shot up in the air to get the cowboys' attention. "Alright! Let the kid try n' grab 'er!" Mr Harold shouted and the men retreated, angry and frustrated.

Durango watched as the bird slowly calmed down from being chased all over the farm. She was standing next to the well, her crest pointing skyward and panting, looking around for any more assailants.

"Hey there!" Durangos voice made her jump and she quickly snapped around. Her master was slowly walking closer to her. She backed off with a snort. "It's okay. I ain't gonna hurt ya! It's me, the food-guy, remember?" He felt a bit silly for talking to a bird, but it seemed to work better than to chase her all over the place. She tilted her head and squawked. "You've caused a lot of commotion tonight, haven't ya?" He kept talking to her as he inched closer and closer. He was merely a few feet away now. The bird kept looking at him with a suspicious look in her eyes. "But it's okay! Nobody will care, if you'd just..." He had the end of the rope by his feets but when he bent down to pick it up, the roadrunner dashed. Like an arrow that just been sent away by a bow, she darted away only to stop again a small distance away.

Durango cursed and sneaked up to her again, but once again she just let him get close enough to touch the rope on the ground before she did another dash. And once again she stopped and looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

And when she repeated the same behavior next time he got close enough, he slowly realized what she was doing. "She's toying with me?!" He said to himself and furrowed his brows. The roadrunner squawked and almost bounced up in the air when he darted towards her and threw himself after the rope. She moved in time for the rope to barely slip through his fingers. She bounced back as he started to crawl after her, barely letting him touch the rope. She dashed off again as soon as he stood up and began to chase her.

Mr Harold, his men and the two Barleys watched the amusing display with mixed expressions.

"What'n tarnation's that boy doin'?!" Harold muttred and scratched his head.

Clara laughed and clapped her hands. "I think they're playin', sir..." James said with an amused snicker.

The game went on for a while, until the exhausted Durango finally got a hold of the lasso around the birds long neck. He quickly tied it around his waist and grabbed the nearest object he could hold on to: the watering through. The roadrunner stopped when she felt the rope tensioned around her neck. She stopped and turned around. Durango gulped. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all... What is she decided to sprint away and drag him along? But she just stood still with her head slightly tilted. Durango carefully extended one of his hands. She flinched at first, but didn't move a muscle as he carefully put a hand on the base of her neck, reaching in between the feathers and scratched the bumpy skin. She almost immediately relaxed and cooed softly. Durango chuckled in relief and kept scratching the bird as he walked her back to her corral. The neck-scratching seemed to have a tranquilizing effect on her.

It wasn't until he shut the behind him and untied the rope that the people on the farm began to cheer. Good thing too, since their cheering awoken the roadrunner from her hypnosis and hurried to get away from her master.

"Great job, sonny!" James applauded. "Interesting strategy indeed!"

Durango nodded back and crawled out through the fence and yawned. He was already tired when Clara came with the message, now he didn't want anything else but to go home and sleep.

"Hey, Rang-rang!" Clara said and walked up to him. "Nice job there! Keep that up an' you an' that bird'll be best friends in no time!"

Durango grinned. He knew it was going to take time to fully gain the birds trust a LONG time! But somehow he felt rather good after this and that neck-scratching could come in handy. And now... He looked back at the bird in the corral, almost completely camouflaged in the dark of the night. Now he had a name for her too: Arrow.

**Lol, for some reason this chapter has been pretty tricky to write o.O... 'Guess I've got a case of writers block coming up... Lovely...**

**Anyway, next chapter will be pretty important so I hope to see y'all then :P!**

**Delilah OUT!**


	4. The Lawman and the Farmer Girl

**OH my GOD! FINALLY chapter four xD! You guys have NO idea how much I've been struggling with this chapter o_o! It was pretty easy to write the SWG chapters, but this chapter took FOREVER to write -.-... Hopefully next chapter won't be this ridiculously delayed... Sorry... Won't happen again! Besides, after this one there's only one chapter left ;)!**

**Anyway, this is probably the most interesting chapter so far, at least in my opinion ^^. I'm not entirely satisfied with it though...**

***** Chapter Four : The Lawman And The Farmer Girl *****

**The Barley Farm 25th June 1844**

Penelope Campbell furiously scraped the last of the dry corn seeds off it's cob and threw the empty cob over her shoulder. The cob whizzed past Fiona Barley and landed in a basket. Fiona grinned and held up another, smaller basket filled with new corn.

"Nice throw Penny!" She said and put the basket down at the table and helped her two friends with the corn picking. The two lizard couldn't help but to giggle at the rattlesnake picking corn.

"Hey, this is harder than what it looks like for me, okay?" Carmen rolled her eyes and flicked an empty cob away with her rattle. "At least you two got hands!" She picked out a new cob and impaled it with one of her fangs, careful not to inject any venom. Then she drag the sharpest of her scales over it and scraped off the large, yellow seeds. Every now and then she would curse when one of two scales snapped. "Don't giggle Fiona! I'm ruinin' my body here for ya! For you and yer delicious cornbread!" The rattlesnake laughed and and flung the empty cob away.

"Yeah, and then we'll all have to be pickin' scales outta the dough for hours!" Penelope chuckled and reached for a new cob.

"Oh very funny, Penny!" Carmen smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Ma! Ma!" Suddenly little Jolene came slithering as fast as she could. "Ma! Blake's stuck in the apple tree!"

Carmen moaned. "Again?" She sighed and shook her head. "I'll be right back, girls. Duty calls, y'know!" She said and left the table to aid her son.

The two basilisk women chuckled. "Three years old and already gets himself into trouble every fifth minute!" Penelope shook her head. "I bet he got that from his mother!"

"Really? Carmen never hit me as a troublemaker?" Fiona tilted her head as she got a new cob from the nearly empty basker.

"Oh, you should've seen her back in the days! She was always up to mischief! Lettin' the roadrunners loose from the livery, rearranging the wares in the General Store and blamin' it all on Harvey, stealin' everyones left shoes!" Penelope laughed softly at the memories. "An' then another troublemaker moved into town; Clint West an' his family. An' lemme tell ya, Clint and Carmen were like two sides of the same coin!"

"Clint West?" Fiona repeated with a frown. "I've heard 'bout him! Wasn't he a train robber?"

"Train robber, bank robber, murderer, etc. Unfortunately, he started to hang around with the wrong crowd an' the rest is self explanatory. I don't think he ever intended to be an outlaw..." Penelope shrugged. "But do ya wanna know a secret?" Fiona nodded and leaned closer. "Clint is actually Jacobs father!" Penelope whispered and waited for Fionas response, smiling like a fool.

Fionas eyes widened. "No! She never told me anything?!"

"Yeah, that thing with Clint bein' Jacobs father IS supposed to be a secret kept between 'em, but I guess half of the town knows already..."

"Yeah, and I really wonder how that's possible?" Carmens sudden appearance made the two lizards jump."Oh, it's alright!" She chuckled when Penelope tried to apologize. She had Blake cradled in her coils with Jolene and Mary-Anne scurrying after. "I bet the whole town knows by now. But it's alright unless it gets out."

"Why not?" Fiona asked.

"Well..." Carmen sighed. "Clint DID make a lot of enemies during the years, an' if they were find out that he has a son, then I'm afraid that someone might wanna try an' hurt Jake..." She shook her head.

"Like the hawk?" Jolene said and tilted her head.

"No no! That hawk was just trying to get himself a meal, trying to survive" Carmen frowned. "Just too bad he decided to mess with the wrong family!"

Fionas eyes opened wide. "A hawk?!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Carmen shrugged. "Long story short; I had to fend off a hawk that were trying to make off with my Jake. Poor boy, he's been hunkering down at home for weeks. I had to KICK him out today! He's worried that the hawk will be back to hurt him..."

"Dun worry, ma! No one'll hurt Jake!"The little rattlesnake said seriously. "If they do, then they'll have to deal with me too!" She bared her little fangs, which made the three adult women chuckle. Carmen nudged her young on the head with her rattle.

"An' how are ya gonna do that, Jo?" She asked with an amused smile.

Jolene pondered for a while. "I'm not sure..." She said and hung her head. "But I'll just have to introversize!"

"Don't you mean improvise, dear?"

"That's what I said! Imporvisize!"

Blake started to squirm in his mothers grip. "Lemme'go ma!"

"Alright, but if I see ya in that tree again, I'm gonna leave ya there! Understood, mister?" She said and unrolled herself around her son. He laughed victoriously and slithered away as fast as he could.

"Want us to go an' keep an eye on him?" Jolene turned to her mother.

"No, but ya can go an' keep two eyes on him!"

"Sure! C'mon Mary!" The young basilisk nodded and followed the older rattlesnake after Blake.

Carmen chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, and Penny!" She cocked her head to Penelope. "How does yer Durango hold up? Just think, sixteen years and already the deputy!" She said and Fiona agreed with a smiling nod.

"You have to be so proud, aren't ya?" Fiona picked up the empty basket to fill it with more corncobs.

Penelope quietly turned her eyes away. "Sure... I'm proud of him alright..." She said. Fiona and Carmen stopped what they were doing and looked at their friend with a puzzled look. "But, I can't stop worry 'bout him! First, I only had to worry that Ben would get into trouble thanks to his big mouth. But now I have to worry 'bout both of my boys! What if Durango has bitten of more than he can chew this time?! What if gets into a real fight and some really bad man shoots him?!"

"Hey, calm down, girl!" Carmen said and gently coiled herself around the lizard in a hug. "Don't ya worry 'bout him! It's Durango we're talkin' 'bout! He's neither stupid nor reckless! He would never get into a fight he knew he can't handle! If there's anyone in this town who would fit as a deputy, it's definitely him!"

"But he's just sixteen! He's just a boy! I-I don't think he's ready!"

"Carmen's right, y'know!" Fiona agreed with the rattlesnake. "I don't think Holliday could've chosen a better companion, actually!"

Penelope frowned in defeat. "But... I..."

"Oh, shush now Penny!" Carmen rolled her eyes. "Lets get this over with already! I'm really starvin' for some of Fys cornbread!"

**Skeleton****Cliffs**...

"Will ya look at this guy? I've never seen anyone with a bigger, smugger grin that that!" Jake laughed as the new deputy entered the saloon. Durango turned his head when he heard his friends voice and saw him sitting alone by a table next to a tattered window. He chuckled and walked up to the rattlesnake.

"Did the big guy finally let ya off the hook?" The snake tilted his head and grinned, showing off his fangs.

"Yeah, he's givin' me some time off..."Durango grimaced and took a seat on the nearest chair. "Gotta go back to the station in a while though..." He grinned. "What 'bout you? I thought you'd never leave yer home again!" He nodded to the little gray stump where Jakes rattle once sat.

Jake snorted and hid it under his body. "Shut up!" He mumbled.

"Hey, it's nothin' to be embarrassed 'bout! Could happen to anyone!" Durango shrugged. "To anyone with a rattle, that is!"

"Hey! Ya wanna keep quiet?!" The rattlesnake hissed. "Tell everyone what happened to my rattle an' I'll tell Clara ya fancy her!"

Durango flinched. "W-what?" He stuttered. "I-I don't... Clara?! Are ya mad?!"

Jake snickered. "Maybe a bit... But I KNOW ya fancy her, and she doesn't seem to..."

"Listen, Jake..." Durango said sternly to the snake, feeling his cheeks turn slightly red. "I don't 'fancy' Clara! She's my friend, just my friend an' nothin' else!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure!"

"What the heck is wrong with ya?! You're actin' like some gossipy ol' hag right now!"

"Well, I kinda feel like a gossipy ol' hag actually. Wanna hear somethin' funny? I've heard Clara talkin' to yer sisters, an' guess who they talked 'bout?"

"Me?" Durango grimaced.

Jake nodded. "Mhm! And I happened to hear that Clara... Oh, there she is!" He accidentally glanced out at the window and was immediately distracted by what he saw, or whom he saw.

Durango took a curious peek outside the window. "Well, damn!" He said when he saw Clara jump down from a wagon, along with her father. "Wonder what their business in town could be?"

"I know!" Jake turned back to the lizard sitting across the table. "Ya've heard 'bout the Dance this weekend, right?"

"Well, duh. There are posters all over the town, and..." Durango paused and frowned at his friend. "Wait, you're not sayin' I should... A-ask her to...?" He started to shake his head furiously. "No! No way!"

"Why not?!"

"Why don't you two go then? I-I can't go! I've got chores to do at the station and...!"

"Don't worry! I bet Holli wouldn't mind givin' ya the night off to go to the dance! I can't go though, even if I wanted to! Blake and ma is goin' so they'll need someone to watch the brats. Everyone's goin'! Even Harvey!"

Durango cocked an eyebrow. "Who's Harvey goin' with?"

"I've heard he's goin' with Ms Farlow. Ya know, the widow on Cacti street?"

"Her? He's goin' with Ms Farlow?"

"Well, that's what I've heard!" Jake shrugged and took another glance out at the street. "Uh-oh..." He said as his face grew paler.

"What?" Durango frowned and turned his head. "Oh shit..."

Outside, Mr Harolds son, Frank, and three of their stablemen just exited from the casino. They had spotted Clara and judging from her expression, she saw them too. A clash was inevitable.

Frank had always been an annoying little prick with a badly concealed affection for Clara and now since her father owed money to Mr Harold, Frank had become even more obnoxious than before. The problem was just that Clara would try to kill Frank every time she saw him, or at least beat him senseless. That's why he always traveled with his pack.

"This'll end bad...!" Durango shook his head and got up from his chair, but Jake had wrapped his tail around his foot.

"No, wait! I wanna see what happens!" He said with his face glued to the window.

"But I've gotta break 'em up b'fore anyone gets hurt!"

"But they ain't even fightin', yet!"

The deputy clenched his teeth together. He was right. "But I can't let 'em start a ruckus in the middle of the street..." He mumbled and frowned. He didn't like the way Frank was walking up to Clara with a huge grin on his lips. He looked drunk. He said something to her and she replied by snarling angrily at him.

"I should go anyway, she doesn't seem to be at her best mood..." Durango kicked his leg free and hurried to the doorway.

Mr Barley had gone into the bank, while Clara was freeing the javelin from the wagon to lead it to the watering.

"Aww, don't be like that! Just answer yes or no?"

"Never"

"C'mon, whaddya want me do to then? Go down on my knees? I can go down on my knees for ya!"

"No, but ya can put a gun 'gainst yer head and pull the trigger..."

"But c'mon...!"

"And if ya have troubles with doin' it yerself then I don't mind helpin' out! Just gimme a gun an' I'll take care of yer problems!"

"Really? What did I ever do for ya to hate me?"

"Ya were born!"

Frank grimaced when the young woman in front of him gave him the death-glare and tied the critter next to the watering through. "Please, Clara. All I'm askin' ya t'do is t'go to the dance with me! That ain't much to ask for!"

"Well, too bad 'cause I ain't goin'!"

Frank chuckled. "That's just 'cuz it's me askin', ain't it?"

"How tempting it is to answer yes, I just gotta be honest an' say no. I ain't goin' with anyone! Least of all you!" She returned to the wagon.

"Really?"

"Yes!" She turned around, facing him, and gritted her teeth. "An' if ya don't vamoose I'll bust yer face so bad yer own MOM won't recognize ya!" She warned, which only caused the rich ranchowners son to chuckle and stick his thumbs into his belt.

"Is that so, darl'?" He grinned and leaned back on his heels. "I'd like to see ya try!"

She took a step forward, Frank didn't budge. She curled her fist into a ball, but she didn't get to slam it into the other lizards face until the deputy stepped in.

"Ya heard her, Frank! Vamoose!" Durango said, straightening to be taller. But he didn't even got to the same eye-level as the chuckwalla.

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me! It's the lil' deputy!" Frank laughed loudly, drawing out a laughter from his men. "The sheriff finally let ya out of the playpen, did he?"

Durango seemed unfazed by the insult. "Frank, if ya won't stop harassin' Miss Barley, then I reckon I'll just have to take ya down to the station an' lock ya up for inappropriate behavior."

Frank laughed even harder and had to clutch his big belly to not double over. "I'd LOVE to see that one!" One of his men, a lop-eared, black jackrabbit, laughed.

Clara put her fists on her hips and glared at Durango. "Miss Barley?" She asked with a low hiss.

Durango shrugged just as Frank grabbed the front collar of his jacket and pulled the shorter lizard closer to his face. "Git outta the way, lil' man!" He snickered and threw the deputy aside.

Durango drew the revolver he wore at his waist, as he staggered to not fall to the ground. "Frank! I'm warnin' ya! Ya just added another offense to that list of yers!"

"What? You're gonna shoot me?"

"Maybe, maybe not" He said with a shrug. "But if ya don't leave now, I'm sure as hell puttin' ya under arrest!"

"For what?"

"Negligent behavior, drinkin' an' violence against an officer!"

"Ya better be kiddin'!"

"I ain't!"

Frank took a step towards the deputy, who slowly lowered his gun as the other lizard got closer. The chuckwalla had a grim smirk on his face. "What's the matter, officer? Aren't ya gonna arrest me?"

Jake came out from the saloon and slithered in between the two lizards, towering over Frank.

"Didn't ya hear the deputy? Get lost or get locked in, yer choice!" The rattlesnake hissed and bared his fangs.

Frank chuckled. "What happened to yer rattle?"

Jake hissed angrily and was about to throw himself over the lizard when a gunfire echoed. People yelped in fear while the three lizards and the snake snapped around and spotted sheriff Holliday. He held his smoking gun in the air, but when he saw that the kids turned around, he holstered it again.

"I dun want no fightin' on my streets, Frank." Holliday said, crossing his arms. Frank didn't reply. "Ya dun want us to lock ya up fer the night, would ya? Yer pa ain't gonna be to happy 'bout that!"

Frank snarled at the sheriff before nodding to his men that it was time to leave. He gave Clara one last, drunken smirk. "Ya know where I am, if ya change yer mind!" She replied by snarling angrily at him. He laughed and ordered his men to sit up on their roadrunners. They left for the ranch, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. The youngsters coughed when the dust entered their throats.

"Campbell!" Holliday called for his deputy. "I wanna see ya back at the station in five minutes, no more, no less!" Durango nodded as Holliday turned around and walked into the saloon.

Clara sighed and turned her attention back at her wagon, just as her father rushed out from the bank. "I-I thought I heard a gunshot!" James said and looked around for the source of the noise.

"It's alright, Mr Barley. It was just the sheriff, nothin' to be alarmed over!" Durango ensured the adult basilisk. Mr Barley nodded slowly.

"Why was he shootin'?" He frowned and asked confusedly.

"Are ya done in there, pops?" Clara asked her dad, ignoring his question. Mr Barley flinched and shook his head. "Then go back in there an' finish up yer business with those vultures already! MUSH!" She said sternly and pointed a stiff finger at the bank. Her father grimaced and scratched the back of his neck as he turned around and went back inside the bank.

"Ouch!" Jake said, glancing over at Clara. "Dont'ya think that was just a teensy weensy lil' bit harsh on yer ol' pa?"

"Hey, it ain't my fault he's growin' old! And senile!" She chuckled and crossed her arms, turning her head at Durango. "So, Rang-rang!" She said, making him jump in surprise.

"Uh, y-yeah?" He said and turned to her.

"I heard rumors that you're the new deputy, I had a hard time believin' 'em though!" She grinned. "Nice badge!"

Durango returned the grin. "Thanks!"

Jake started to slither away, mumbling something about 'Dwayne probably wanna to see me at the mine', or something. Durango cocked his head at him as he got a wink from the rattlesnake. He knew what his friend meant. He glanced at Clara, and found that she was staring back at him, her arms crossed, leaning her weight on one foot. She had an empty, almost dreamy look, in her eyes and seemed to be looking past him instead of at him.

"So... Errm... Clara?" He asked. She shook her head as she was snapped back to reality, her inwardly curled fin bobbing slightly along with her movements.

"What?" She said and blinked.

"W-were ya serious back then..." Durango asked, feeling a bit awkward and scratched the back of his head. "Y-you're not goin' to the dance?"

She didn't answer at once, but eventually she turned back to her wagon and shrugged. "Maybe!" Was her simple answer.

"Maybe?"

"Yeah. Maybe I won't be goin'. Or maybe I just said so to get Frank to piss off an' leave me alone..." She turned her head around to Durango again, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Durangos eyes darted to the ground and he clenched his teeth as he felt his cheek turn into a humiliating red color. "W-would ya go..." He mumbled. "I mean, if... Ya wanna go to the... Y'know..."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're bein' breathtakingly well articulated at the moment, Rang-rang!" She said impatiently.

"What I'm tryin' to ask is..." Durango stopped, took a deep breath. "W-would ya like to go to the dance with me, then?"

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "What makes ya think I'd rather go with ya then Frank? What's the difference?" She put her hands on her hips.

"None... really..." Durango answered, admittedly a bit disappointed. "I... I just thought that..."

"What time is the dance?"

Durango lifted his head slightly, looking at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Huh?"

"I asked ya what time is the dance, silly!"

"I-I ain't sure... Seven o' clock?"

"Then you'd better be there to pick me up at the farm. I ain't ridin' to town with a fancy dress!"

Durango flinched. "W-whaddya mean?"

"Whaddya THINK I mean, deputy?" She sighed.

"That you're goin' with me to the dance!?"

She cocked her head against him. "Duh!"

He grinned widely and opened his mouth to say something when Holliday came out from the saloon, taking a swig from a glass in his hand. "Campbell, the five minutes are up!" He said and waved with his hand to the boy to come closer.

"See ya then, Rang-rang." Clara said smiled slyly at him before leaving to join her father inside the bank.

"Sure. See ya then, Clara..." Durango smiled and felt himself blush again.

Holliday snickered to himself and studied the two youngsters. Durango slowly made his way to the sheriff, as he emptied his glass. "Whaddya say we go back to the station? I reckon yer dad's awake by now!"

Durango nodded and looked down at the ground. Having to arrest his own dad for starting a fight in the saloon proved to be more awkward than he thought it would be. Especially when he started bringing up the few things he remembered from Durangos childhood. The most embarrassing ones too!

Benjamin Campbell was indeed awake. Or something similar. He was sitting on the bed in the detention cell, massaging his temples with his fingertips, when the sheriff and his deputy entered the station. Holliday leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and shook his head sadly.

"Y'know, everytime we bring ya in, I have to stretch a LOT of rules to keep ya outta permanent lockdown, buddy!"

Ben replied with a bothered groan. The sheriff sighed and nodded to Durango, who in turn nodded back and went to unlock the cell door.

"Mornin' kiddo..." Ben mumbled without looking up.

"It's almost afternoon, pa" Durango answered and swung up the cell door with the creaking sound of metal against metal.

"... It is?... Well, that's what I meant!"

"You're awake, right?" Holly scowled. Ben shrugged. "Then get outta 'ere! An' stay outta trouble, ya hear?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't git yer 'stache in a twist, buddy!" The adult basilisk muttered and got up, rubbing his eye. "See ya at home, kid!" He said as he staggered out, past the sheriff and the deputy and out on the main street.

Holli grimaced. "This is startin' t'git silly. If I have t'lock that guy up one more night I swear I'll quit! Sorry kiddo, but yer father's always been an irresponsible troublemaker" He said and sat down behind his desk, starting to pick around amongst the mess of papers. "

"Yeah, I know..." Durango said with a shrug.

"By the way, I think ya handled the situation pretty good back there" He glanced at the deputy.

Durango grinned faintly. "Thank ya, sir...!"

"But ya gotta be tougher when confronting the badguys! Don't back down an' don't show any signs of weakness, 'kay? Nobody will respect the badge if the person wearing it is a wimp!"

"Yeah, sorry sir..."

He nodded at the gun at Durangos waist. "Ya know how to use that thing?"

"This thing?" Durango looked down at the revolver and slouched his shoulders. "Yeah, sort off... Only pops owns a gun, an' we're never allowed to touch it... But I know how to fire with it!"

"But do ya know how to shoot?"

"Huh?"

"It's one thing to know how to pull the trigger, anyone can do it! It's another thing completely to actually shoot and hit what ya wanna hit!" The sheriff picked up a bundle of paper and put them in one of the drawers. "Ya know what? I'm gonna teach ya how t'use that thing properly, startin' t'morrow!"

"Thanks, sir!"

"Alright, 'nuff with the 'sirs' already, you're makin' me feel like some ol' guy!" Holliday chuckled and shook his head, pointing his finger at the broom that stood leaning against the wall. "Ya mind doin' some sweepin'?"

Durango rolled his eyes. _Yay, more sweepin'... _"Alright, si... Errm, I mean, sheriff!" He snatched the broom from the wall and began to brush it back and forth over the floor. "Oh, an' there's one thing, sheriff, that I wanna ask..."

Holliday looked up from the paper he was reading. "Sure, what?"

"Well..." The deputy stopped sweeping and leaned on the broom. "Ya know the dance, now this Saturday?" The sheriff nodded. "Umm, I was just wonderin' if I might have the night off? I kinda asked Clara if we could go an', well, she said yes..."

"Clara Barley, huh?" The sheriff laughed. "Then I better let ya off, or she'll have my head!" He stopped laughing and snickered at the deputy. "Ya know what, just take the entire weekend off! I think I'll manage to keep an eye on things myself!"

Durango grinned widely. "Gee, thanks a lot, sheriff!" He thanked and began to sweep the floor again, with more effort put into it. Holliday didn't answer; he just chuckled to himself as he turned his attention back to the papers.

Suddenly the sheriffs body jerked forward as he got a violent cough attack. Durango stopped sweeping and looked at the sheriff with a concerned frown.

"Hey, are ya okay there, sheriff?"

Holliday was coughing into the crook of his arm and it took a while before he could answer his deputy. "Yeah... Yeah, I-I'm just fine... Really! I just caught somethin' in my throat!" He said with a tired grin and turned back to the papers.

Durango nodded slowly and started up his sweeping again. Sheriff Hollidays coughing attacks had begun a couple of months ago. He either claimed that it was just a cold, or that something got stuck in his throat. But still, Durango couldn't help but to feel a bit worried every time sheriff Holliday got a new attack. It was like he was sick or something!

**The****Barley Farm 27th June 1844...**

Arrow was strapped in front of a wagon. And she hated being strapped in front of a two seat wagon. She picked at the leather straps with her pointy beak and squawked in discomfort.

"Sorry, girl. But you're the only one available to pull this 'ere cart!" Durango said, scratching the bird behind her neck. She lowered her head and hissed silently. Durango stopped scratching her and chuckled, trowing a quick glance at the house. Clara said she would be ready in five minutes. But it felt like it's been five years now!

"Are ALL girls like this?" Durango cocked his head at Arrow, who replied by jabbing her beak in his eyebrow. "Yeowch!" He jerked his head back and rubbed where she had pecked him. "Sorry, just kiddin'! Ya vain chicken" He mumble. Arrow squawked angrily and the crest on her head stood up as the bird and the lizard glared at each other.

"Are ya two at it again? Wow, that's attractive!" Someone said, coming from the house. Durango and Arrow slowly turned their heads.

Standing on the porch was Clara, in a wine-red dress with lace around the brims and a matching shawl draped over her shoulders. Durango noticed his jaw had dropped so he hurried to close it.

"Umm..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Y-ya look... nice!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Nice?"

"Uh, yeah... Or, I mean, it's red an'...!" He did a mental facepalm. "Sorry... I mean, ya look great...!"

She started giggling. "Calm down, stud! We both know ya don't mean it!" She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Sure I do!" He gestured at the dress. "I-it looks great on ya!"

She smiled a lopsided smile. "Awwe, thanks!" She batted her eyelashes at him, making him blush.

Arrow shook her head and nudged her head against her young masters shoulder, giving him a push forward. He staggered slightly. "H-hey! Stop that!" Clara giggled once more. Durango turned back to her and nervously cleared his throat. "Soo... Shall we leave?"

She shrugged and chuckled. "Might as well..." She said and walked up to the cart.

Within a few minutes, the lights of the Skeleton Cliffs were visible as the sun set behind the cliffs, casting a tall shadow over the town. Arrow chirped in relief, as seeing the town meant that this wagon-pulling nightmare would all be soon over and she would soon be resting in the livery. She had done EVERYTHING she could think of to get out of the harness; feigning weary, pretended her leg hurt, seeing ghosts behind every bush they met. But her 'cruel, heartless sadist of a master' didn't fall for any of that.

Durango sighed. "Arrow, don't be so dramatic. It ain't THAT bad, is it?"

Arrows head snapped around and gave her master a glare. _Yes, it is!_

He chuckled and threw a glance at Clara. She had been quiet all the way, just leaning on the armrest and gazing out into the scenery. He frowned and made Arrow come to a halt. Clara didn't seem to notice that the cart had stopped.

"Are ya alright, Clara?" He asked, she twitched when she heard her name.

"Yeah..." She answered without looking at him. "It's just that..." She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind..."

"Bullshit, what's troublin' ya?"

She grimaced and turned her head around to him. "Can I tell ya somethin'?"

"Errm, yeah... Sure!"

"I..." She sighed again and turned her head to the desert again. "Ya know me an' social happenings like this, well, we just don't mix..."

"Oh... I'm sorry..." He mumbled and looked down. "I shouldn't asked ya to come, should I?"

"No no! I mean, yeah, ya should've! I'm glad ya wanna go with me! I didn't wanna go with anyone else anyone!" When she realized what she said, she immediately buried her face in her hand to hide the redness on her cheeks. Durango couldn't help the little smile playing on his lips. "Dagnabbit, I mean..." Her shoulders slouched. "Can we go somewhere else? Before we go to the dance?"

He nodded. "Alright" He cracked the reins, telling Arrow to go on. Arrow squawked in annoyance and ruffled her feathers, before she began walking back. "So, where do ya wanna go?" She turned her head back to him and smiled; a mischievous glint in her eyes.

It didn't took long for them to get to the canyon, and find the hidden cavern. The cavern with it's underground river would've been pitch black if it weren't for the luminous moss growing on the walls. The faint, green light from the moss illuminated the cave and reflected back in her eyes.

"Remember the first time I showed ya this place?" Clara turned away from the water and looked at Durango. She folded her arms across her chest. "Remember them smugglers?"

"Yeah..." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Gee, I thought they were pretty scary, weren't they?" He grimaced. "Especially that snake..."

"Yeah" She nodded. "But ya kinda saved both mine an' Jake's life there, y'know?" She chuckled. "Ya were braver than any of us!"

"Naah..." Durango shook his head and took a few steps back, scratching the back of his head. "I-I ain't believin' that! I-I was scared shitless all the way!"

"Whaddya think we were?" She snorted. "Don't be modest!" She started walking towards him. For some reason, Durango felt it was best to back away. She stopped and snickered. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno... Ya got that weird grin on yer face again!"

"I do?" She grinned even wider. She took another step closer. "I've got somethin' to confess..."

Durango tilted his head. "Huh?"

"The first time I saw ya an' Jake, I saw an asskissin' lil' brat an' a murderer-in-makin'..."

"... Thanks! Good to know ya liked us already from the start!" He said and rolled his eyes.

"... But ya two wouldn't run away whenever ya saw me, or ignore me, so I thought that hangin' 'round the little murderer an' his wimpy friend would be fun. An' I gotta admit, I thought ya were pretty good at runnin' on water! I never manage to run that far. The skirts always gets in my way..."

He blinked. "Clara...? I..."

"An' that dream ya had, to become the sheriff. I thought it was amusing, to see ya fight so hard. But I knew ya could do it, no matter what yer sisters, or anyone else says. An' now..." She nodded to the place where his badge would've been if he had been wearing his deerskin jacket. "You're the deputy, one step closer!"

"Clara, are ya sure you're feelin' alright?" He cocked his head at her. She wasn't her usual self. Clara? Coming with compliments? Yeah, right!

"I'm more than alright!" She giggled and locked eyes with him. He felt his cheeks turn red again and his mouth dry up faster than a pond in the Mojave desert. "Rang-Rang...?" She asked, taking another step forward. He didn't move. "Do ya love me?"

He flinched. "Wh-what?! C-Clara?"

"I'm serious, Rang-Rang. I want a yes or no!" She involuntarily raised her voice. She blinked, shook her head, cleared her throat and repeated herself, lower and more in control; "I want a yes or no... Do... Do ya love me?"

Durango turned his eyes to the ground for a second, before looking back up at her. He mumbled something inaudible.

"Huh?"

"Yes..." He said again, louder.

"A-are ya just sayin' that, or do ya mean it?"

"I mean it, Clara. I mean it when I say you're the funniest, craziest, most stubborn, and..." He paused and looked at her in the dull, green light. She had tied the shawl around her hips, leaning her weight on one leg and with her arms crossed she waited for him to continue. The tail with a ridge of fins slowly going back and forth. He let his arms fall along his sides; "... And the most beautiful girl I've ever met..." She looked away with a smile on her lips.

"That's good..." She said after a while, walked the last few steps up to him. "'B'cause I think I love ya too!"

He chuckled and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Ya think?"

She returned the cocked eyebrow and snickered. "Yeah, ya wanna change that?"

"To the better or worse?"

"Ya tell me!"

He threw his arms around her, pulled her closer and kissed her. Her eyes widened in surprise before she closed them, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

They broke away and she had to bit her lip to not throw herself over him again. "Not bad!" She shrugged with a mischievous smile.

He returned the smile. "I dunno 'bout you, but I definitely feel like go dancin' right now!"

"My thoughts exactly!"

**Skeleton** **Cliffs** **25th ** **October** **1845**

If you asked everyone in Skeleton Cliffs the time after the dance in the middle of main street, everyone would tell you about the deputy Durango Campbell and the farmer James Barleys daughter Clara. They didn't attract the most attention during the dance, the ones who did were without a doubt Dwayne and Carmen Wright. I mean, you try to ignore two diamondback rattlesnakes at least fifteen times your size, waltzing about on a wooden stage!

But nobody knows for sure what happened during the festivities, or before, as the two youngsters arrived a bit late. But the for the rest of the year, and almost the entire next year, there was a clear change in the deputy and the farmer girl. According to her father, Clara would come up with excuses to sneak away to the town, while sheriff Holliday claimed that his deputy was daydreaming even more than usual.

So the sudden news of a wedding came in little to no surprise to the townspeople of Skeleton Cliffs. Except for Durango himself; one day his mother had handed him her old engagement ring she got when his father proposed to her, and literally ordered him to go and marry that farmer girl.

Durango had never been so nervous in all of his life as when he walked up to Clara, went down on one knee and asked her:

"Will ya marry me?"

After recovering from the slight shock she got, she folded her arms across her chest, as she used too, leaned on one leg and grinned cockily towards him. "Marry you?" She nodded to the ring; a thin goldring with a diamond about half the size of a tomato seed. "That thing ain't very impressive... I bet Frank could get me one with a bigger rock!" She said pondering, but the smile revealed what her answer was going to be. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back up on his feet. "Sure! Who knows, it might even be fun!" And with that, she had kissed him right in front of everyone present.

Everyone rejoiced when they heard about the upcoming marriage, all except Frank. Being used to get everything he wanted, he had a the nasty habit of not taking defeats especially well.

Plans were made and on Oct 25th, they decided to throw the ceremony. The night before the wedding, Jake hosted a surprise bachelor party. To celebrate his buddy 'last day in freedom'.

"What did I tell ya? She DO fancy ya!" The rattlesnake had said with a sly grin, giving the lizard a rough pat on the back with his tail.

And when the moment finally came, the time for them to get married, Durango was standing next to the altar in front of the town hall, with Jake as his best man. Penelope and Fiona were sitting next to each other on the front row with benches, already bawling their eyes out. Next to them were Benjamin, hungrily eying the wedding cake, followed by Brandy and Gin. The twins were more surprised than anyone that their 'baby brother' were getting hitched. But still, they were even now looking at him with cocky smiles and exchanging sly glances every now and then.

Sheriff Holliday were in the back with Dwayne, Carmen and little Blake, keeping an eye on things and couldn't help but to feel proud over his deputy. Blake was the only one not enjoying himself, he looked like he would barf from boredom any second! Just too bad the sheriff was nearby, or else he would've slithered away to raise hell wherever he felt a little piece of hell was necessary.

And then Jolene and Mary-Anne arrived, throwing petals of cactus flowers from a big basket they both were carrying between them, shortly followed by Clara and her father.

Durangos smile widened. She looked even more beautiful now than ever before. The delicate, white gown even beat the wine-red dress she wore at the dance! By far!

As she was walking towards her soon-to-be husband, hooking arms with her father, she was giving everyone the impression of calmness, and having collected thoughts. As if she'd done this a thousand times before. But as she got closer, Durango could spot a certain uneasiness in her eyes, hidden behind a thin, see through veil. Maybe she was just a nervous as him?

James left her by Durangos side and sat down on the front row bench on the only spot available: next to Benjamin. The two men sat as far away from each other as possible, only acknowledged each others presence with a short, grunting nod. Neither of them had anything against their children getting married, it was the thought of becoming fathers-in-laws together that sickened them both. That meant that they were going to meet more often, and to put it mildly: none of them looked forward to that. Their two wives rolled their eyes at their childish men before starting to cry again as the preacher began to speak:

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..."

Blakes loud moan of discomfort was heard over the priests speech, and he immediately earned a stern look from his big sister and father, while his mother chuckled softly; Jake had been acting the same way on her and Dwaynes wedding.

After what seemed like an eternity of ramblings from the priest, and even Jake started to get annoyed (he would've shook his rattle, if he had still had it), it was finally time for the 'I do's. And Clara saw another opportunity to mess with her man.

Durango answered "I do", like the good boy he was. When it was Claras turn to say it, she glanced at Durango with a mischievous grin, enjoying the nervous gulp he made. He probably thought she was going to say no. She chuckled and turned to the rows of tensed up people, just waiting for her to say the two words.

"I dunno, whaddy'all think?" She laughingly asked the audience. "Should I say yes or no here?"

"Say yes! Say it!" Jolene and Mary-Anne shouted in unison. Spread chuckles and 'say I do!' murmured through the rows.

"Jus saj it! I'm hunggy!" Blake yelled angrily. "I wan cake!" The little neonate managed to draw out more chuckles and Clara turned back to Durango again, still smiling at his nervous face.

"I guess I do, then!" She said. Durango let out a relieved sigh.

They kissed to a choir of loud hollering, cheering and whistling. Women cried in happiness, men applauded and chuckled while Blake made hurling sounds.

In Durangos opinion, he was now officially the luckiest man alive. He had everything a man could wish for; a home in the most peaceful town this side of Missouri, a loyal and reliable best friend, the most beautiful (and craziest) wife and he was just one step away from his dream: becoming the sheriff of Skeleton Cliffs.

Now, nothing could go wrong! Or could it?

**Sorry for the rushed and half-assed ending... The wedding part was going to be a chapter of its own, longer and more detailed, but I'm sort of running out of time and I want to finish ROTH as soon as possible, so I could get started with someone elses story already :3! **

**So yeah, one chapter left ^^! Hopefully y'all won't have to wait another eternity for it xD!**

**See y'all next chapter!**


	5. Rise of the Hunter, Part 1

**Here it is, chapter five; the final chapter of Rise of the Hunter, Rango the bountyhunters background story.**

**Or at least part one of the final chapter! Decided to split it in two, since it's such a ridiculously long chapter xD! (And the next part is EVEN longer!)  
**

**It's been pretty fun to write, even though I got stuck for quite a while with both the previous chapter and this one ^^"... **

**Oh, anyway, enjoy ^^!**

***** Chapter Five : Rise of the Hunter Part 1 *****

**The outskirts of Skeleton Cliffs**** 12****th November 1848...**

The chuckwalla stood behind the gila monster, nervously shifting from foot to foot. "W-we're all set, Mr Hills. They're waitin' for yer orders!"

"Nice work, boy." The big lizard said and lit a cigar before tossing the match to the side. "Ya got 'em 'runners?"

"Yeah, they're waitin' at t'end of the riverbend an' t'ones fer us are waitin' by the waterhole. As I said, all is set, Mr Hills...!"

"Oh please, call me Jack!" Jack Hills said and turned around, looking at Frank with squinting eyes.

"Sure, no problems, Jack!" Frank nodded. "W-we should git goin' as soon as possible! Pa'll soon discover the missin' 'runners...!"

The gila monster waved his clawed hand at the chuckwalla, interrupting him. "Alright, alright, ev'rythin' in it's time!" He said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"Sorry...Ermm, Jack...!"

The gila monster waved his hand at the chuckwalla again, this time as a sign for Frank to piss off. Frank lowered his head and retreated back to the waiting band of robbers. Jack grinned to himself as he made eyecontact with one of the robbers, a Komodo dragon with icy blue eyes.

_See, Al? Told ya the kid wouldn't be completely useless!_ Jack thought to himself, and the Komodo dragon snorted and turned away as if he had read Jacks thoughts.

…

**Skeleton****Cliffs...**

The morning sun was seeping in through the curtains and partially lit up the room, where Durango still lied all curled up underneath the covers. Sleeping. Or at least; he was TRYING to sleep.

"Alright, Rang-Rang! I'mma count to five, an' if ya ain't up an' runnin' 'til then I'll rip off the sheets. Then I'll keep goin' to ten, an' if you're still snoozin' like a baby I'll pour water over yer sorry ass an' tell everyone ya still wet the bed! One..."

"Whaddya mean still? I've never been a bedwetter!" Durango replied sleepily.

"Two, that ain't what yer sisters has told me..."

"An' ya think those two are a reliable source of information?"

"Three, why not? An' you're 'bout to lose the cover, Rang-Rang! Four..." She grabbed the end of the sheets.

"N-no, wait! It's cold an'...!"

"FIVE!" She yanked the sheets away, the chilly morning air hit Durango and he gasped in surprise. He became a little bit more awake, but he'd still rather be sleeping. "Very well then, six..." Clara turned around and walked out of the room, still shouting the numbers as the counted. "SEVEN! EIGHT!" When she returned with a bucket of water, she found Durango sitting on the edge of the bed, yawning and sleepily rubbing his eyes. She grinned. "Nine..."

"W-wait! I'm up! I'M AWAKE!" He exclaimed in horror as she lifted the bucket higher to throw it's content at him. He jumped to his feet and waved his arms. "See?! I'm awake!"

"Good!" She nodded and walked out of the room again, still with the bucket in her hands. Durango glanced at the bed. It looked very inviting, and his eyelids were very heavy. But as if she knew what he was thinking, she shouted from the kitchen: "An' don't even THINK 'bout goin' back to bed, mister! I've still got this 'ere bucket!"

Durango winced. She was actually willing to waste water just to get him out of bed? Wow...

He got dressed and staggered off to the kitchen, almost like a zombie, sat down by the table and let his head fall on the tables surface with a loud, hollow _bang_. Clara chuckled at the hollow sound and put down a cup of coffee in front of him. He didn't react.

"Wonder what sheriff Holli would say if he knew how difficult it was to git his deputy outta bed!" Clara rolled her eyes and turned to the eggs and bacon sizzling in the frying pan. Durango mumbled something incoherent in response. "Just so y'know, you're gonna be late..." She raised an eyebrow at him and scooped up some of the breakfast on a plate, placing it on the table along with the coffee. She sighed, rolled her eyes again and grabbed the cup of coffee. She held it over his head and turned it around, the warm coffee flushed down over him.

He yelped and jumped up from the chair. "You're CRAZY!" He yelled.

"Good mornin'!"

"Good mornin'?! Ya just poured hot coffee all over me, ya madman!"

"Don't be ridiculous, the coffee's been waitin' for ya almost half an hour, it's hardly even warm anymore! Besides, you're awake not, aint'ya?"

Durango muttered something and looked down at his clothes, dripping with the black beverage. "Great, now I'll have to switch clothes..." He mumbled.

"Too bad!" Clara shrugged with a smug grin. "Ya better hurry up or no breakfast for ya!"

Durango looked at her with an annoyed frown, before chuckling and shaking his head. "Remind me again why I married ya?" He said with a lopsided grin.

She stalked up to him. "Oh, I dunno... Maybe b'cuz I'm the funniest, craziest, and most stubborn and beautiful girl you've ever met?" She said with a sly smile.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're gonna hold that against me forever, aint'ya?"

"Well, that an' a couple of other things..." She added and batted her eyelashes.

He chuckled nervously. "Like?"

She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now, get outta here! Go an' git dressed, ya keep comin' late like ya do every mornin' an' ya gonna lose yer job!" She was back in 'bossy-mode' and returned to the stove. Durango shook his head again and retreated to the bedroom to change into a bit dryer clothes.

…

The town of Skeleton Cliffs were even calmer than usual. Mostly because people were still in shock after what happened in the mines pretty much half a year ago.

First, the Zuni tribes medicine man, Ya'dok'ya, arrived. He foretold that Dwayne Wright had angered the gods even more by digging deeper and deeper into their sacred mountains and that a many great tragedies would soon befall the town. But everyone thought the old coot only tried to frighten everybody to leave the town, so they sent him away.

But perhaps the indian was right, Dwayne maybe should've listened to him? Because, not many days after Ya'dok'yas foreboding, a great tragedy did happen; there was an accident in the mine and a large part of the mine caved in. Dwayne managed to save the lives of a handfull of men before he got caught in the rubble and disappeared. His body was never found again, even though excavations were made to look for more possible survivors.

When Carmen got the news of Dwaynes death, she was devastated. Wouldn't stop crying for days, and she refused to eat for weeks, despite all of Penelope and Fionas nagging. But then she managed to pull herself together, for her kids. But she never really recovered. Three heartbreaks were three enough.

People started to avoid the mines, and more than half of the workers quit. The mines had to be closed up and were now standing there. Empty and dark. A reminder of the accident.

A few families even left the town, as they remembered Ya'dok'ya saying that MANY great tragedies would happen. And who would wanna stay and wait around for that?

Durango looked at the empty houses as he walked past them. The Finch family, who arrived at the same time as Claras family did, were the last ones to move away.

He eventually got to the main street and scurried inside the station, where everything continued as it used to; he and Holli would greet each other with acknowledging nods before he took his place behind his desk. And that's the way it would be the entire day, mostly. Nothing much happened nowadays.

But today was different. As soon as Durango stepped in the station, he was met with sheriff Holli, busy picking out a rifle from the wall. Mr Harold was sitting on a chair, his angry, red face shining brightly over his white suit.

"Saddle up kid, we've got some roadrunners t'find!" Sheriff Holli said without looking at the deputy who just walked through the door.

"W-what? What's happened?"

"If ya were here on time, you'd be here to hear the entire story! But I'll have to tell ya one the road, instead. Come along!"

Durango raised an eyebrow at Mr Harold before following the sheriff out through the door and over to the livery. They hastily saddled their roadrunners and head out. While they rode, Holli told him what happened:

"Mr Harold came in a while ago, claimin' that some 'scoundrel' stole a herd of 'runners from him durin' the night. He's payin' us extra if we catch both 'em runners n' the thief before lunch."

Durango nodded. That would explain why the sheriff was in such a hurry!

But what neither of them noticed, were the five outlaws standing on the cliffs, watching the sheriff and the deputy as they left the down in a trail of dust. Or correction; four outlaws and one ranch owners son. Jack Hills stood in the middle, following the two lawmen with his eyes and grinning contentedly.

"Now?" Al, sitting on a tall, gray roadrunner to his left, hissed.

Jack waited until the two lawmen were out of sight before nodding to the impatient Komodo dragon. "Now!"

…

Clara stood in front of the mirror and glared at the blue/green basilisk staring back at her. She took the tip of the fin on her head with her fingers and straightened it out. It kept it's straight form for a couple of seconds before curling back to the left side of her head.

She muttered something to herself before slumping down in an armchair across the room, lazily floating out all over the chair. The armchair stood right across the mirror, so she entertained herself for a while by making funny faces to the lazy woman in the armchair. When she got tired of making faces at herself, she decided to get up and try to do some normal housewife work.

That got boring after ten minutes.

She groaned and sat down in the armchair again, resting her head against the armrest. For someone who's grown up in a prairie schooner, always traveling somewhere, and eventually settling down on a farm next to a town in the middle of nowhere, the life of a housewife was a fate worse than death. Sure, she loved Durango. She loved him a lot, believe it or not. But this was torture. There was NOTHING to do when you lived in a house in the town! Nothing that didn't grow boring after ten minutes or so, that is.

She started to root around in her brain, trying to come up with something to do. She couldn't think of anything. With a sigh, she stood up and walked back to the mirror. She could go to the bank. She could try to convince Mr Sullivan, the head of the Bank, to give her dad a break. Mr Sullivan had been nagging on Mr Barley for a couple of months now to pay the loan back, that he had to take to afford food for the critters. This years season had been bad for the farm; too much sun and not enough water.

She dusted off her light green dress, tried to straight out the fin again, failed to straight out the fin again, and walked out of the house, towards the Bank on main street.

…

Nobody took any notice about Frank, as he entered the bank. Neither did they care much for the three outlaws that followed him: a gila monster, a Komodo dragon, and a female coyote. But they should've cared. For only a couple of seconds after the four had entered the bank, the shooting began.

The Komodo dragon pulled out his gun and shot down one of the bankers. Peoples yelps of surprise, turned into screams of fear as hysteria broke out. People who tried to get out were shot by the coyote blocking the door.

"Everybody PLEASE! CALM DOWN!" Jack yelled over the riot. "JUST GIT DOWN ON T'GROUND AN' SHUT UP!" The ones who were left standing trembled with fear and obeyed the gila monster.

Mr Sullivan and Clara had been talking, or arguing, as the gunshots echoed and the screaming began. Mr Sullivan barged out through the door to the reception and was about to bellow out: "what's going on here?" when his sudden appearance caused Al to turn around and fire, shooting the packrat in the chest. Clara shrieked and clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Whoops..." Al grinned.

Clara turned around to run out the backdoor when a sudden gunshot hit the wall beside her, causing dust and splinters to fly into her eyes. She came to a staggering halt and rubbed her burning eyes when she felt someone knock her over to the ground and drag her out to the others. It was the coyote. She grabbed the basilisk by the neck and threw her out amongst the rest of the hostages.

"Let people know we've got hostages!" Jack ordered Al, who nodded and grabbed first best person, a chipmunk, and dragged him outside to the curious crowd. It was hard to hear what he said to the people, but while he was out there and showed people what was going on, Frank and the coyote, Sheila, was ordered to start stuffing all the money they could find in bags. Jack watched the hostages closely.

Clara rubbed her stinging eyes and stared in shock and anger at Frank, as he scurried around and helped Sheila to unload the safe. Frank noticed her staring at him and averted his eyes. Sure, he was a creep, but how, and why, did he mix himself with these?

A sudden gunshot made everyone in the bank scream in fear, the ones on the outside screamed even louder. Al walked back inside with a big blood stain on his shirt. First they thought he had been shot, but then he started laughing and they realized that it was the chipmunk who'd gotten shot.

"Wow, that's was unnecessary, dont'ya think?" Sheila scrunched up her nose in a grin that bared her sharp fangs. "I like it!" The Komodo dragon laughed grimly again.

Frank looked like he had seen a ghost. "Y-you shot him..."

"Hey, got a problem with that, kiddo?" Al growled. Frank shook his head and backed away. "I didn't think so..."

Clara looked at the door. _Where's Durango?! And sheriff Holli?!_ She looked over the group of people she was sitting in the middle of. They were sitting on the floor, trembling in fear and looking down at the ground, avoiding eyecontact. She narrowed her eyes at Jack, he seemed to be the leader.

Jack noticed the basilisk staring at him and returned her glare with a mocking smile. "Are we done here soon?" He asked and turned to Sheila. "Gotta hurry up, the lawmen'll be back any minute!"

"Yes, sir! We're done now!" She held up a bag of money and waved it about. "Boys, we're goin' to the Caribbean!" She said in a joking tone. Al and Jack replied by hollering out an 'aye!' Frank frowned and looked at the ground again.

"Al, pick out a hostage, we're leaving!" Jack picked a couple of bags and began to walk to Mr Sullivans office to reach the backdoor. Clara thought at first it was strange that he knew it was there, but then she remembered Frank and gave the chuckwalla an angry glare.

_Traitor..._ She didn't say the word, but her lips moved and she guessed that Frank could read what she called him, as he bit his tongue, picked up the rest of the bags and followed Jack.

"You there! You with the funny fin!" Clara stiffened when she heard herself being called out by the Komodo dragon. He had seen the looks she gave them, especially Frank. Instead of shivering huddling together with the others, she sat straight and despite the red, irritated eyes, she still managed to look strong. Sure, she'd probably be the troublemaking kind, but she'd probably be loads of fun too! He gestured for her to come closer by winking his finger at her.

She cursed and slowly stood up. The adrenaline was coursing through her body and her brain was working double time to come up with some sort of plan of escape.

When she was close enough, the Komodo dragon grabbed her and pulled her closer, holding his gun pressed against her temple. She clenched her eyes shut as she felt her heart rate pick up and fear filled her head, dulling her mind and the cold steel made her she forget about any escape plans.

_This isn't happening. This CAN'T be happening! God damn it, Durango! Where are ya?!_ She thought as she got dragged out through the backdoor by the Komodo dragon, where another member of the band were waiting with their roadrunners; a cottontail jackrabbit whose left ear had been torn off by the middle.

"Alright Mickey, lookie what we got here!" Sheila cheered and held up her moneybags.

The cottontail, Mickey, whistled low. "Hawaii, 'ere Ah come!"

"But we gotta get outta town alive first!" Jack said and raised an eyebrow at Als choice of hostage but didn't say anything.

Now it was Franks turn to stare at her. SHE was coming along as their hostage? He didn't know what to say, or even think! Sure, she probably deserved it. She ditched him, after all. She could've chosen him, but nooo! She chose the biggest wimp the town has yet to face! But then again, she was so pretty...

They heard someone rush out from the bank and scream something incoherent, so the band jumped up in their saddles and rode out of the town by following the back alleys. Clara got her hands tied around the saddle horn on a light brown roadrunner, who in turn was tied after Al and his gray critter.

Suddenly something appeared, crashing through the walls of a close by building; a large, dark brown diamondback rattlesnake. He wasn't a fullgrown snake yet, definitely not the largest snake they've seen, but that didn't stop him from being one of the biggest, most menacing creatures on Earth. The band came to a halt as their frightened roadrunners tried to escape the dangerously pissed off snake.

"Jake!" Clara exclaimed happily as her friend appeared.

Jake hissed at the robbers and bared his fangs at them. "Where'dya think you're goin', chums?"

Jack cursed and struggled to keep his bird from dashing off while Al pulled out his gun and aimed it at Clara. Jake recoiled slightly and his pupils thinned out to slits.

"Let us go or we'll blow 'er brains to kingdom Come!" Al growled.

"Not if I send yer soul straight to the devil first!" Jake hissed and leaned closer. Al grunted an amused chuckle and cocked the hammer.

"It's alright Jake!" Clara said suddenly. Jake looked at her with a shocked expression. "It's alright!" Clara repeated. "Whenever Durango an' sheriff Holliday comes, tell 'em ev'rythin'...!"

"Shut up!" Al spat, turning his face to her. His finger was dangerously close to pulling the trigger, so she clamped her mouth shut and looked down at her hands.

Jake cursed under his breath and moved out of the way so the robbers could escape. "I hope ya know what you're doin'..." He said to Clara as the robbers passed him. Clara nodded, but didn't say anything out loud.

_I hope so too_...

…

It was around noon when Durango and the sheriff found the stolen roadrunners and returned to Skeleton Cliffs with them.

They had found the birds by the riverbend, but no thief. The couldn't find any tracks either so they decided to return to town with them and send a telegram to the nearest towns to warn them about the roadrunner-thief. But both of them had a strange feeling in their guts that they just couldn't shake off.

"Errm, Holli?" Durango said, as they returned with the herd. "Wasn't all this a bit... odd?"

The sheriff nodded. "The birds had been left there by whoever took 'em..." He interrupted himself for a short coughing break before he continued. "... T-the question is just, why?"

Durango frowned at Holliday. "Are ya alright, sheriff?"

"I've been worse..." He answered with a shrug.

That was true, he had been worse. The cough that started a couple of years ago turned out to be tuberculosis. Who would've thought, huh? But despite being a 'lunger', sheriff Holli would always be up and about, doing his duties like any other sheriff. Sure, some days he was too sick to do anything, so Durango would put on his 'don't-question-me-I'm-the-law'-face and send the sheriff home, but most of the time he would go on like nothing was wrong.

When they arrived to Skeleton Cliffs, they saw people running around like ants, tending to wounded people in a panicked fashion. A lot of people who didn't seem harmed were sitting on the ground wrapped up in blankets and trembling in shock or fear or both. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong.

"What happened here?!" Holliday exclaimed as soon as he saw the chaos.

"The Bank's been robbed..." Jake answered before anyone else could. He came slithering out from an alley and a wound on his neck made him grimace in pain when he came to a stop in front of the lawmen. "They attacked right after ya left, I think it might've been planned..." Durango and Sheriff Holliday gave each other a meaning look. "Nobody even noticed 'em, they just appeared an' suddenly we heard shootin' an' screamin' from the Bank. One of 'em, a giant lizard thingy, came out an' killed Harry Stone in front of ev'ryone. Telling us that if anyone tried to interfere they would massacre ev'ryone inside. A few minutes later Mortimer ran out an' told e'vryone they've left an' taken a hostage with 'em. I tried to stop 'em, but they threatened to kill 'er an' tried to shoot me..." He pointed with his rattle-less tail to his neck. "The giant lizard barely missed me" He frowned at the memory; he had just reluctantly moved out of the way of the band and looked after them as they rode off. Suddenly, the giant lizard had turned around in the saddle and fired his gun. If he had aimed a little bit more to the right and higher up, Jake would've been dead. The snake shivered, the last time he had a near-death experience was when he got attacked by that hawk.

Durango looked around for someone while listening to Jakes story. "W-where's Clara?!" He asked as soon as the snake stopped talking. He was afraid. So very afraid.

Jake sensed his friends fear and looked down at the ground, blood from his wound slowly dripped down on the ground. "It's her..."

"Huh?"

"She's their hostage..."

Durangos eyes widened in fear. That's exactly what he was afraid of... "An' ya just let 'em git away?!"

"Didn't ya hear me?!" Jake spat and his blood red eyes flashed in anger. "If I had tried to stop 'em, they would've shot her! At least now she's still alive an' we've got a chance to save 'er! Or would ya rather want her dead?!"

Durango clenched his teeth and turned to Holliday, only to notice that the sheriff was talking to a bunch of random citizen, already forming a posse to go after the robbers.

"Durango..." Jake said, the basilisk turned back to his friend. "Tell Holliday t'wait for me. I'm comin' along with ya guys, but there's somethin' I wanna fetch first!"

Durango nodded. "Be quick 'bout it!" Jake nodded back, turned around and slithered away as fast as he could. Durango raised his invisible eyebrows. He had never seen Jake move that fast!

Jake returned half an hour later, Durango gritted his teeth at the snake. "I told ya to be quick!" He hissed. Jake hissed back, but then he chuckled and showed his tail, which was wrapped up in a white sailcloth. Durango frowned. "An' what's that?"

Jake grinned and flicked his tail, unraveling the sailcloth. Instead of a rattle, he had some sort of modified gatling gun attached to his tailtip. The rings were twirling and clicking and seemed to live it's own life. Both of Durangos eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Like it? I sure do!" Jake grinned. "I got it from Dwayne, right before he..." Jake went silent and looked down at the ground. He had also taken Dwaynes death pretty hard, but not as extreme as his mother or little brother had. He shook his head and contnued; "Anyway, he got somethin' similar for Jo too. He invented 'em himself! Imagine the look on mas face when we got guns from Dwayne, hehe..." He chuckled. "Sorry I'm late, it took a while to get this thing on!"

Durango didn't answer, instead he turned to the sheriff, who was staring at Jakes gatling-rattle with an impressed look on his face. "Sheriff, we gotta go now!"

The black-collared lizard nodded and climbed up in the saddle. Durango did the same. Arrow was moving around uneasily, it was like she knew what was going on and wanted to leave as soon as possible to rescue Clara.

Sheriff Holli, deputy Durango, Jake and ten citizens who knew how to handle a gun, including Durangos father Benjamin, left the town the same way the bankrobbers had taken.

…

The band had stopped by the watering hole to switch to new, rested roadrunners. Sheila was waving the moneybags around before chucking them up on her new roadrunner, while humming a happy melody.

"Y'really think we'll b'able t'retire now?" Mickey chuckled to Jack. "Ah mean, just lookit all that dough!"

"Oh, I wouldn't mind loungin' back on an island right now!" Sheila said and nudged her hip against Al. "Wouldnt'cha too, hubby?" She batted her eyelashes at the Komodo dragon. Al responded with a wide grin and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer and whispered something in her ear. The coyote giggled and wagged her tail. "Oh quit it, ya still owe me fer twelve pokes already! Buut, I guess I could make an exception, as a lil celebration..."

"Ay Sheila, you're forgettin' one minor detail..." Jack said and chuckled at the coyotes annoyed frown. "He's already married!"

"No, I ain't!" Al growled.

"But ya got kids, aint'cha?" Jack cocked his head at Mickey, who added: "R'member t'hug yer kids, buddy. Or they might end up like yaself!"

"Naw, don't worry 'bout that!" Sheila smiled and put her palm against the dragons chin, forcing him to look down at her. "I won't tell if you won't tell!"

Clara rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. _Durango better come an' kick their asses soon, or so help me god I will do it myself!_ She had been lifted up on another roadrunner, where she recognized Mr Harolds insignia on the saddle and gave Frank another foul look. Frank pretended he didn't notice.

"Alright, let's not waste any more time 'ere!" Jack said and heaved himself up in the saddle of his new roadrunner.

"Aww c'mon!" Mickey protested. "We're WAY a'ead o' them hayseeds!"

"You're right, Mickey!" Jack answered. Mickey flinched; he hadn't expected that answer. "Why don't ya stay b'hind then?" In the blink of an eye, the gila monster had pulled out his gun and fired at Mickey. Mickeys eyes widened in shock as the bullet hit him in the chest and sent him crashing to the ground with a gurgling scream. Al and Sheila didn't budge, as a matter of fact; they smiled. "I'm awfully sorry Mickey..." Jack said as he holstered his gun again and steered his roadrunner towards Mickey, who lied on the ground and struggled to breathe. "But ya remember last bank we robbed? Ya screwed up Mickey. Ya were s'posed to stand guard. Ya were s'posed to let us now if somethin' went wrong. But noo, ya just had to go out there, try to show-off. Thanks to ya, I lost two men. Two men who both were better than ya!" Mickeys eyes widened as he clutched his bleeding chest. The cottontail was trembling in pain and fear. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Mickey! Sure, ya did good t'day, but we three has done some talkin' and we decided it would be better if ya left our lil' gang. We can't risk ya screwin' things up again, no offense." Jack tipped his hat at the dying cottontail. "It's been fun, Mickey. See ya 'round!"

Frank and Clara was staring with both their mouths open at the scene in front of them. "Y-ya shot 'im!" Frank stuttered, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Yup! An' as long as ya don't screw things up like ol' Mickey 'ere, I won't have t'shoot ya too!"

"Look at it like this, kid..." Al chuckled. "This way. There'll be more for us!" Sheila and Jack nodded in agreement.

They got moving again. When the roadrunner Clara rode on got yanked into moving after Al, she flinched in surprise and had to hang on to the saddlehorn. She had been staring at the dying cottontail not knowing for sure what to think. She felt somewhat sorry for the cottontail, and her hatred towards the others immediately intensified.

The thundering sound of the roadrunners feet as they ran across the desert was deafening. Clara felt fear starting to grow in her chest again. They had said something about getting rid of her as soon as they got to the border. That didn't sound good in her ears.

_C'mon, Durango! Where are ya?_ She looked over her shoulder, at the dust trail they left behind them. _Please, don't be late this time!_

**Alright, to be continued in part two, MWAHAHAHAHAA!**

**But I'll upload it REALLY soon, though. So don'tcha worry ;)**


	6. Rise of the Hunter, Part 2

**Alright, as I said, part two is here :D!**

**AND IT'S ULTRA LONG! Size Wailord, for sure!**

**Anyway, let's see how this ends, shall we ;)?**

***** Chapter Six: Rise Of The Hunter Part 2 *** **

The posse wasn't too far behind. They arrived at the watering hole about an hour after the robbers left. They all flinched at the sight of the dead cottontail, lying sprawled on his back.

"H-hey! Wasn't he one of 'em?" Durango said as Holliday dismounted his roadrunner and squatted down to investigate the body. "I-is he dead?"

"As a doornail..." The sheriff said and closed the cottontails wide opened, unseeing eyes. "They must've had a fight or somethin' cuz they shot him in t'chest..." He shook his head. "The poor bastard must've bled to death..."

Durango was grinding his teeth as his eyes darted over the watering hole. Exhausted, and possibly even dead, roadrunners were lying spread around the area. Some had managed to get down to the water before they collapsed. Apparently, after the bandits had driven their roadrunners hard and fast to put as much distance between themselves and the inevitable posse as possible, they switched to new roadrunners here, leaving Durango and sheriff Holli a hint where the rest of Mr Harolds stolen roadrunners might might have gone off to. And their suspicions were practically confirmed as witnesses had told them that Frank, Mr Harolds son, had been one of the robbers. Which, of course, Mr Harold refused to believe.

"Sheriff! Over here!" One of the posse members, Mr Abbey the possum, shouted. Everyone turned to him and noticed that he was pointing at a dry bush, where a piece of light green fabric was gently waving in the faint wind. Durango quickly rode down to the bush and yanked off the piece of material. He recognized it, this was definitely a piece of Claras dress!

He turned to the posse and waved it in the air. "This is Claras! They've been heading this way!" He shouted, and before he could even finish the sentence, Jake had dashed past him, the gatling-gun at the end of his tail was giving off a metallic rustling sound. The long snake was shortly followed by the rest of the posse and Durango, as they continued the chase after the bank robbers.

But after the night had fell, they had to break up and camp for the night. Much to Durangos dismay.

"But, what 'bout Clara?!" He exclaimed when Holliday announced that they had to quit for the day.

"We'll catch up to 'em t'morrow, dont'ya worry...!"

"But what if it's too late t'morrow?! She's nothin' but their hostage, they'll gonna kill 'er sooner or later!"

"Calm down, Campbell!"

"No! I ain't gonna calm down! Not 'til Clara's safe back home an' the money's back in the bank! I ain't gonna calm down 'til we got those robbers danglin' from the noose!"

"The men are tired, Campbell! An' t'runners need to rest!"

Durango was going to protest again, but clamped his mouth shut instead. Holliday nodded, and took it as a sign as the deputy finally agreed. The posse made up a camp for the night and went to sleep. All except Durango, who woke up in the middle of the night, saddled the just as impatient Arrow and rode off alone. Determined to find the robbers before it was too late.

…

The robbers rode until the night fell, then they had to take a break as the roadrunners were close to their limit. The critters were panting heavily and their legs trembled as their riders dismounted.

"How far are we from t'border, eh Jack?" Al said and slumped down against a tree. He was shortly joined by Sheila.

Jack shrugged. "Not far, we should b'there by t'morrow, I reckon..." He answered and yanked his head at Frank, a sign for the other lizard to come closer. Frank frowned and did what he was told. "Y'know kid, I'm impressed! You've done real' good t'day, d'ya mind havin' the first watch over the 'ostage t'night?" Jack said and nodded to Clara, whose hands still were tied in front of her. She was sitting on a rock, her back straight and watched the bandits with a despising look on her face. When she made eyecontact with Frank yet again, she snorted in disgust and looked away. Frank nodded without turning his head back to Jack. "Great!" Jack said with a grin and lied down on his back with his head against a boulder, tipping his hat over his eyes. "Wake me up sometime before sunrise!"

Sheila and Al had disappeared, probably scurried off somewhere more private.

Clara was still sitting on the rock and looking back from where they came. They were in some sort of secluded, mountain forest, beyond the desert. A wide river passing by was providing water for the plants, and its soft splashing could be heard through the woods and bounced of the cliffs.

"It's no use, they won't catch up t'us anytime soon!" Frank muttered and sat down opposite to her against a pine tree.

She looked down at him and narrowed her eyes at him. "An' whaddya know 'bout that?" She spat.

"'Cause we're WAY ahead of 'em, they won't catch up t'us until we've reached the border. N' then they can't do nothin', 'cause we're free!" Frank replied with a cocky smirk.

"Why?" She asked him, judging from his dumb, confused face, she could tell he didn't have any clue what she meant. "Why are ya ridin' with these robbers? You're a scumbag, Frank, you've always been. But I never thought you'd be one of those losers that would turn into an outlaw?" Frank didn't answer, he just stared into the ground and started grinding his teeth. "But I guess I underestimated ya, Frank... Ya CAN be dumber than what ya look!"

Frank growled and looked up at her, saw that her eyes were burning with rage and decided to ignore the look of hatred she gave him. "Why don't'ya just shut up?" He hissed. "Ya don't know ANYTHIN'!"

"Then tell me! How come you're interferin' with these men?! Why did ya decide to stab everyone in Skeleton Cliffs in the back like this?!"

"They... they..." Frank averted his eyes and stared down at his large feet. " I met 'em four years ago, the night after the dance. Jack n' the gang came to t'ranch n' asked t'stay durin' the night. They were allowed t'stay at t'loft. That's how I got t'know 'em. B'fore they b'came train n' bank robbers, they were cowboys. Or at least, Jack, Al, Vince n' Ray were. They didn't meet Mickey 'til last year, n' Sheila's from a brothel in Las Vegas. But they thought the money the made by herding livestock from one place t'another wasn't 'nuff, so they began to rob stagecoaches an' banks along the way. An' they returned to t'ranch last night, askin' fer my help! They were gonna rob the Bank of Skeleton Cliffs, n' Jack thought I seemed like a dependable fella, so he decided t'trust me!" Frank could help but to smirk proudly at the compliment. "N' to me, Skeleton Cliffs is nothin' but a dyin' town with a dyin' sheriff. N' since ya'd rather be with Du... Errm, I mean, I'd do anythin' t'leave that place, so when they offered me a share o' their money for my help, I immediately agreed! But... I never thought YOU outta all people would be taken along as our hostage..."

Clara snorted. "Happy to be of trouble to ya!"

"Can ya two keep it down a notch!? I'm tryin' t'git some shuteye over here!" Jack growled from underneath the hat.

"Sorry, Jack!" Frank mumbled, he and Clara gave each other angry looks before they both turned away again.

Clara cursed and looked down at her tied hands, and then she looked around again. As long as Frank was watching her, she couldn't try to get loose from the ropes. She looked down at her dress and cursed once more when she saw how torn and tattered it was. This thing had been expensive!

The bandits broke up their camp early in the morning. Sheila was angry at Al for some reason and kept her distance. Every now and then she'd cast him a spiteful grimace and he'd reply by snarling quietly.

They rode the entire day, getting closer and closer to the border. Clara got even more nervous for every hour. She hadn't gotten any sleep at night either. First Frank had guarded her half of the night, and then Jack had been guarding her the rest of the time until they left. She was worried, and for every mile closer they got, she became more and more convinced that the posse wouldn't catch up to them in time. IF they sent a posse, that is...

…

Durango arrived at a river just as the sun was rising. Both him and Arrow were exhausted.

As soon as he dismounted and lifted off her saddle, she staggered down to the water, drank and then fell into a feathery pile next to a big fir tree. Durango slumped down next to her. He cursed loudly and buried his face in his hands. Arrow looked at her master with a tilted head and sleepy eyes.

She had been running non-stop since they left the posse, and now she was completely drained. Just like Durango, she was worried sick for Clara, and wanted to find her as soon as possible. She hated to admit it, but that bitchy lizard with the funny fin WAS pretty cool sometimes...

Durango slowly leaned back and closed his eyes. He didn't want to sleep. He wanted to keep going and find Clara. But he had been going non-stop since the morning, and by now, everything felt limp, including the fin on his head! He yawned and slowly felt his mind going numb and he drifted away in sleep, unaware that the outlaws he were hunting, were only a hop, skip and a jump away...

…

He woke up a few hours after sunrise from a restless sleep. He was still tired, but as he saw the sun climbing halfway to noon, he panicked and rushed to his feet.

"Arrow? Arrow! Wake up!" He said and chucked the saddle upon the sleeping Arrows back, abruptly waking the bird up from her beauty sleep. She squawked in annoyance and glared at her master with her feathers ruffled as she got up from the ground. "Sorry, girl. But we gotta find Clara!" Arrow stopped glaring at Durango and the crest on her head went back to her neck. That's right; Clara was still in trouble!

The robbers weren't exactly hiding their tracks very well, and everything pointed at the borders. Durango waited impatiently while Arrow paused to groom her wings, where some ingots had stuck from their chase among the spruces and fir trees. He was running out of time. As they reached the borders, they'd probably get rid of Clara as fast as possible.

Durango has never been a religious person, but right now, he was begging to all deities he knew of. Praying that he would make it to her in time.

…

There was a great gorge in the craggy woods. Over the chasm stretched a rickety wooden bridge, and beyond the bridge lied their goal: Mexico.

Al grew impatient, wanting to get rid of the hostage before they got to the bridge. Claiming that the bridge probably wouldn't take another person, as it already was close to falling apart.

Sheila retorted with a dry answer: "Don't worry, we don't mind leavin' yer fat ass b'hind!"

He growled at the female coyote. "Back off, Sheila!" He warned and bared his sharp teeth.

"YOU back off, Al!" She narrowed her eyes and snarled back.

"What's the matter with ya two now?" Jack moaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

"He chicken'd out on me last night!" Sheila answered, cutting Al off.

"I didn't!" He defended himself.

"Hell yeah, ya did! Ya were thinkin' of 'er, didn't ya?! Yer wife? N' those twins o' yers, right?"

"No I didn't! N' I've told ya b'fore: she ain't me wife!"

Sheila stopped her roadrunner, closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she turned around and stormed off the other way. Al cursed loudly and was about to follow her, but got stopped by Jack.

"Ya go after 'er an' we'll leave ya both b'hind!" The gila monster growled and stepped in before the Komodo dragon. "We'll give 'er ten minutes t'cool off, then we leave. With or without 'er, capische?" Al growled and nodded.

They didn't have to wait for long until Sheila came back, racing between the trees and occasionally glancing over her shoulder, as if she were being followed.

"Jack!" She hollered as soon as she spotted the gang. "Jack! I think we're bein' followed!"

Clara felt her heart happily skip a beat. Durango?

"How many?" Jack asked seriously as he got back up on his roadrunner.

"I only saw one, but I bet there's more comin'!" Sheila said with a nod to the direction which she came from. "I don't think he saw me, but he's definitely followin' our tracks!"

Jack gritted his teeth. "Hell... Didn't think they'd be so fast..." He nodded to Al and Frank. "We need t'git over the bridge b'fore that hayseed gits 'ere! We'll pass it an' cut t'ropes. We ain't gonna have to use it anymore anyway" Jack grinned and so the outlaws continued their run for the border, with Durango short on their tails.

…

They passed the wooden bridge right before Durango got out from the clearing of the woods.

Al had been right: the bridge WAS close to falling apart! The boards held together by dry, flaky rope were old and cracked, and one board broke underneath Claras roadrunners feet. The bird squawked in surprise but didn't fall into the hole. Clara yelped in fear when she almost fell out of the saddle; she had been too focused on the path behind them to notice the bad condition the boards were in.

As soon as they got off on the other side, Durango exited the woods and looked around. It didn't took long for him to spot the band of outlaws on the other side of a great gap.

"Clara!" He hollered, Arrow immediately dashed for the bridge.

Clara perked up when she saw her husband. _Finally!_

As Arrow and Durango got on the bridge, Al jumped down from his roadrunner and ran up to the bridge, starting to cut the ropes off with a large hunting knife. Arrow stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, heading back to the other side as fast as she could.

First the ropes holding up one side of the bridge snapped, the bridge twisted and Arrow had to struggle not to fall down in the river, that passed a few hundred meters below their feet.

Arrow had to jump the last meters to get back on land before the other ropes snapped, and the bridge swung like pendulum to the other wall.

"DURANGO, NO!" Clara scream echoed, but she sighed in relief as she saw Arrow use both her beak and talons to heave her and her rider over the ledge. She also felt very stupid for screaming out loud like that.

"C'mon, let's go!" Jack ordered and the robbers vanished among the trees on the opposite side.

Durango climbed out of the saddle and heaved himself up on the ledge, to make it easier for Arrow to get up on her own. He lied sprawled on his back, panting, while the black roadrunner jabbed her sharp beak into the ground, using it as an anchor, while she dragged herself up by using her claws and flapping madly with her wings.

He lifted his head and saw the spot where the robbers had been standing. They were gone. He cursed and let his head fall back to the ground. So close! He had been SO close! Oh well, at least he now knew that Clara was safe. But for how long?

With a wince, he got up on his elbows and looked at the broken bridge. There were probably another bridge further down, but if he took the long turn, he would definitely be too late!

Suddenly he felt Arrow tug at his shirt. The bird was lying on her stomach, recovering from the climb, when she spotted a fir tree leaning over the ledge. A very tall and dead fir tree.

Annoyed since the bird disrupted his concentration, he shrugged her beak off. She squawked angrily and continued to tug at his shirt. This time he growled and gave her a weak swat on the beak. "For cryin' out loud! Leave me alone, Arrow! I need to think!"

Arrow hissed and her crest stood right up. She jabbed him on his cheek, right under his eye and yanked his hat off. "Arrow! Knock it off, ya stupid featherbrain!" Durango growled and tried to snatch his hat back, but the bird got to her feet quicker than him and darted off and left the hat on one of the dead fir trees twisted branches.

Durango took his hat back and was about to give Arrow a proper scolding when he noticed the tree. It looked tall enough to reach over the divide, so if he managed to knock it over, maybe it could serve him as a bridge?

"Wow, errm... Nice job there, Arrow! Sorry I didn't listen..." He apologized to the bird, who stuck her beak up in the sky and he could swear he heard her snort. He knew by past experience that it was better to apologize as fast as you could to this bird, or she could be nastier than a hungry and pissed off rattlesnake.

He took a few steps from the tree and rammed it with all his strength. It didn't budge, so he screamed in frustration and rammed it again. This time he was awarded with a creak from the trees roots.

He rammed the tree three-four more times before it finally fell over the gap in a slow, loudly creaking fashion, and to finally hit the ground with a mighty, earth rocking _slam!_

The outlaws heard the tree hit the ground and came to a complete halt. They listened, looked at each other and continued on their way in a much faster speed.

…

"There it is!" Jack barked as he spotted the pass, marking the borders between the two countries.

"Finally!" Al growled impatiently and tugged on rope connecting his roadrunner to Claras. "It ain't too long left now, girlie!"

Claras heart was racing in her chest and her mouth felt drier than the desert. She hadn't seen any sign of Durango since the gorge, and time was running short. They were soon over the border, and then they would 'get rid of her'. They never said what it was they were going to do exactly, but she had her ideas...

On the other side of the pass were first a steep mountain wall at one side, and the pine forest continued. They were quiet as they rode through the pass, not wanting to risk starting a rock-slide. As they got out on the other side, they paused. Al got down from his roadrunner and lifted Clara down from hers. With a malicious grin, he cut of the ropes tying her wrists together. The relief when her wrists were freed made her sigh and rubbed the marks left by the ropes. Then the fear struck her as she saw Al take a few steps back and pulled out his revolver. Still wearing the malicious smirk on his face.

It was time.

"So, thank ya for yer cooperation, Miss!" Jack said and leaned his elbows on the saddle horn. "But this is where we part ways!" Clara flinched. "By the way, I don't think we ever got yer name? If we did, I must apologize; my memory is good, but short!" He knocked his finger on his forehead. "Ya mind refreshin' it?"

Clara took a deep breath, tried to calm her throbbing heart down, held her head high and narrowed her eyes at Jack. "Clara" She answered. "Clara Campbell!" Sure, they were probably gonna kill her, but at least she wasn't going to go down like some whimpering coward!

"Clara, eh?" Jack nodded to Al, who nodded back and pointed the gun at her. "Well, it's been a pleasure knowin' ya, Miss Clara!"

" And it's Mrs, ya blockhead!" Clara corrected him angrily.

"Fine, whatever. Go ahead, Al!"

Clara stared into the barrel of Als gun and gulped. Al snickered and put a finger on the trigger, squeezing it gently, but a voice stopped him.

"DROP YER GUN!" Durango had just gotten out through the pass and was now holding a gun with both of his hands, standing with his feet spread apart and aiming at Al. "Drop it NOW!" His voice got some rocks to tumble down from the mountain wall. The gang looked uneasily at the rocks, and then at Durango.

Jack snorted and raised an eyebrow. "Frank, ya know this dork?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah, that's Durango Campbell, deputy..." The chuckwalla answered and gritted his teeth.

"Wait, Campbell?" Sheila flicked her eyes at Clara. "Well, well, well. Ain't that just too sweet?" She grinned. "Seems like yer boy came to save ya, hun!" The coyote drew her own gun and aimed it Durango. "Too bad he'll fail... Miserably!"

"Ya too, drop yer gun, Miss!"

The robbers laughed. "I don't think ya quite grasp the situation here, sonny!" Jack barked out a laugh. "Ya see, we're four, an' you're alone!"

Durango snickered. "Ya think I'd be stupid 'nuff to go 'gainst four people all by myself?"

Just as he finished the sentence, an angry mess of feathers bolted out from behind a nearby, exceptionally large boulder.

Arrow hissed and landed on Jack, knocking him off his roadrunner and started to jab at his his face with her beak. Sheila screamed in surprise, causing the rest of the roadrunners to panic and throw their riders off before darting off into the woods. Al cursed and turned around, Durango used the moment of confusion to grab Clara and dive in behind the boulder.

When they were in shelter behind the large rock he turned to her, and got a hard punch in the face. Not hard enough to send him flying, but hard enough to make him flinch in pain!

"Hey! What gives?!" He growled and clenched his snout.

"You're late!" She retorted with a hiss before grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and drag him closer to her. She pressed her lips against his and his eyes widened in surprise at the sudden kiss. They broke away and this time she had a faint, thankful smile on her lips. "I knew you'd come!"

He returned the smile and placed a hand on her cheek, gazing into her bright, yellow eyes. "Of course I would!"

Three bullets hitting the boulder and causing dust to rain over them disrupted the moment.

"Where's the others?" Clara asked and looked around, surprised that she hadn't seen sheriff Holli or anyone else yet. "There ARE others, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But?"

"But they're probably a couple of hours b'hind me..."

Her eyes widened. "No, ya didn't...?"

"Yeah, the posse stopped to sleep durin' the night, but me an' Arrow sneaked off ahead..." He shifted uncomfortably as she stared at him in disbelief.

"So, ya ARE stupid 'nuff to go up 'gainst four armed men alone?"

He shook his head. "No, I ain't alone!" He said as Arrow returned to hide behind the boulder with them. She chirped happily when she saw Clara and rested her head on the female basilisks shoulder.

"Arrow?" Clara raised an eyebrow. "Ya kiddin' with me, right?" The black roadrunner lifted her head from Claras shoulder and hissed at the her.

"Hey! If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have gotten 'ere in time, y'know!" Durango said, Arrow stopped hissing and put her beak into the air again.

Two more bullets fired right after each other hit the mountain wall, and more rocks tumbled down. This time it was more of them, and they rapidly multiplied into a mini rock-slide.

"WATCH OUT!" Durango shouted as Arrow rammed Clara, pushing her out of the way. Durango himself tried to get out of the way, sprinting and jumped just in time. However, a couple of rocks about the size of his head rolled down and his leg got caught between them, leaving him lying on his belly unable to get up.

He tried to jerk his leg free, but couldn't move it. He heard the hammer of a gun get cocked and his head snapped around, finding himself face to face with the muzzle of Als gun. Behind him the rest of the gang were collecting the roadrunners.

"C'mon, Al!" Sheila shouted. "We gotta go, he can't be the only one!"

"Just leave 'em!" Jack growled and waved for the pissed off Komodo dragon to retreat. But Al wasn't listening to them.

Durangos eyes searched for his own gun and found it, it had been knocked out of his hand and was now lying far away from him, but only a few feet away for Clara. And he could tell that she noticed it too. He shook his head at her, telling her to stay put behind her hideout behind a tree, but she ignored him and began to sprint for the gun.

Al turned his head, spotted the female basilisk, who were mere arms length away from the gun when he lifted his own and fired. The shot echoed through the trees and the rest of the bank robbers cursed, got on their roadrunners and fled the scene.

Clara came to an abrupt stop, as the bullet hit her in the chest. She gasped and her eyes widened in pain and shock before she crumbled to the ground, her fingers barely touching the revolver in front of her.

Durango felt his heart skip a beat and his throat tighten up. "CLARA!" He screamed and tried to get up, but couldn't budge his leg so he just fell down on his elbows again. "CLARA!" He screamed again, she didn't move.

"Now it's yer turn, kid!" Al growled and aimed his gun back at Durango, but Durango didn't care.

He couldn't take his eyes away from the lifeless Clara.

Suddenly a shot was fired, shortly followed by several other shots fired rapidly in succession. The bullets hit the ground before the Komodo dragons feet, before traveling up and buried themselves in his right leg.

Al screamed out in pain and fell backwards, clutching his bleeding leg. Durango snapped around, just in time to see a large, gatling-gun clad tail come crashing down amongst the rubble, freeing his leg.

"J-Jake...?!" Durango exclaimed in disbelief as the young rattlesnake appeared, shortly followed by the rest of the posse.

"Campbell, where are the others?" Holli barked, Durango pointed with a shaking finger into the woods.

Without any further ado, the posse embarked after the outlaws into the pine forest. Only Abbey and Mr Ingo, their medic; an red fox whose fur had grown pale gray with age, stayed behind to keep an eye on Al and take a look at Durangos leg, but he pushed the fennec away.

"No! Clara!" He said and got up on unsteady legs.

Arrow stood looming over Clara, one of her legs held up into the air. She probably got hurt in the rock-slide.

"C-Clara...!" Durango repeated. He managed to dash forward a couple of feet before collapsing just ahead of her. He crawled the last of the way and put his hand on her shoulder. "CLARA!" He yelled. She twitched and tried to mumble something. He bit his lip and managed to scoop her up into his arms.

"I said... I ain't... deaf..." She repeated with a pained whisper.

"C-Clara... I..." Durango staggered, and gasped when he saw a bloodstain grow larger and larger on the front of her light green dress. "C-Clara, NO!" Fear grabbed his heart and he violently shook his head with tears forming in his eyes. "No! No, no, no, no, NO! Ingo! INGO!" He screamed and turned to the fennec, still kneeling by the rubble.

The fennec flinched when his name was spoken and he quickly got to his feet. With his medical bag in his hands, he rushed towards the two basilisks.

"Clara, l-listen, ya gonna be alright! Ya gonna be just fine, y'hear!" Durango fought back the tears burning behind his eyes and ran his hand over her cheek.

She looked at him from under her half closed eyelids and slowly shook her head. She averted her eyes to Ingo and weakly waved with her hand in a shooing matter to him. "G-get lost..." She whispered, the fennec frowned worriedly before reluctantly get up and backing off.

"C-Clara...?" Durango felt his throat close up.

"Wow, that was a dumb move... Just runnin' out... a-after the gun like that, huh? This... This has been... quite an adventure... hasn't it, Rang-Rang?" She smiled faintly and chuckled. "Sorry for draggin' ya into this mess... As usual!"

"Well, it's like Jake once said; whenever you're 'round, ya just know there's hell brewin' somewhere..."

They both chuckled, however it made her wince in pain. "Gee... I look... pathetic... right now, aren't I?" She muttered and rolled her eyes.

He shook his head. "No ya don't! Ya NEVER look pathetic! You're a lot of things, Clara, but never pathetic!" He said and felt a tear break it's way out from the corner of his eye. He wiped it away with his palm. _If there's anyone who looks pathetic here, it's gotta be me..._

"Liar, liar... pants on... fire..." Claras eyes flickered to meet Durangos and her eyes got all teary as well. "Rang-rang..." She sobbed. "I... I don't want... to die..."

"Ya ain't gonna die, Clara! I won't let ya!" He shook his head. "No way!"

"Y-eah, I am... I'm... gonna die... an' ya know it..."

"No! Don't say that! Don't ya DARE to say that!" He sniveled and the grip around her tightened, hugging his wife closing to him.

"Y'know... If I do die... I... I just want ya to know... That I... I love ya, Durango..." She closed her eyes and let her head rest against his chest. "I... I think... I think I've always loved ya... I... I just didn't know it..." She slowly grew limp in his arms. She wasn't dead. But she wasn't far behind...

"C-Clara? Clara! NO! DON'T GO! D-DON'T LEAVE ME! CLARAAA!"

…

What was left of the outlaw gang had just entered the forest when they shortly after heard the rapid gunfire and Als painful scream.

"AL!" Sheila screamed and turned her roadrunner around. "Oh god, AL!"

"Forget 'im, Sheila!" Jack growled and kept going.

Sheila sobbed and turned her roadrunner back around and followed Jack and Frank. However, it didn't took long before the bullets were flying over their heads as the young rattlesnake from before fired at them with the gatling-gun attached to his tail. Jacks roadrunner got hit and went down, Frank stopped but Sheila kept going, until she got intercepted by the great snake himself. She screamed and tried to change her roadrunners course, but she was too slow, as the rattlers tail whizzed past and knocked her off her bird. He cocked his gatling and aimed it straight at her face.

She crawled backwards and sobbed. She bit her lip, her ears drooping and she looked up at Jake with large, begging eyes. "Y-ya wouldn't shoot someone like me, would ya?" She said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Ya know..." Jake answered with a shrug. "I really couldn't care less what kind of soul it is I'm takin' down to hell..." He leaned closer to the female coyote and hissed. "Besides, one of you clowns shot one of my best friends. I ain't just gonna forgive somethin' like that, y'know!"

Then Benjamin Campbell appeared from behind the trees, he had been pressing his roadrunner to run as fast as it could to catch up to the outlaws and the snake. His presence made Frank laugh a husky laugh. And when Jack asked him what it was that was so funny, he just pointed at Ben and said:

"That there's the citys drunkard! He's probably STILL drunk as a skunk! I bet he sees double right now!"

But his laughter was silenced when Benjamin pulled out a second gun and said solemnly: "That's why I've got two guns; one for each of ya!"

The rest of the posse appeared from the trees, they were all pointing the guns at the outlaws. Frank was the first one to reach for the skies.

"Ya four are all in deep trouble, y'know that?" Holli growled at the Gila monster. "'Specially if Durango gits his hands on ya!"

Jack returned the growl with a spiteful snarl, before slowly rising his hands up towards the sky.

…

Clara died later that night.

They had to set camp on the prairie for the night, while they were heading back to Skeleton Cliffs with the outlaws in shackles and 'rattlesnake-lock'.

Durango was sitting with his dying wife in his arms the entire time. Jakes head drooped every time he checked in on her, and he would 'accidentally' squeeze the outlaws tighter so they eventually cried out in pain.

Durango had never been this sad or worried his entire life, except for maybe that time when they were almost captured and killed by smugglers. He was sitting with Clara in his arms, rocking back and forth and trying to hold back the sobs. She was unconscious, and would've been completely lifeless if it weren't for the occasional painful whimpers she made. And then, she just gave up. Her heart stopped beating and she died. There, in her husbands arms.

His cries of pain were echoing long into the night. He was still rocking back and fort, leaning his head against her and weeping loudly.

Jake blinked sadly and cocked his head to the other posse members sitting around the fire. "Sh-should we do somethin'?" He asked, but Holli shook his head.

"No... We should just leave him 'lone fer now, methinks..." He said and shot a quick glance at his deputy, who was still crying a river for his wife. Nobody around the fire said anything. Nobody FELT like saying anything! Whatever mood the posse had before, was completely gone by now. Everyone silently agreed on one point: Skeleton Cliffs would be empty without James Barleys rowdy daughter.

Jake nodded slowly and let his head rest on the ground. Looking at his best friends from the corner of his eyes, and he did nothing to stop the little tear from escaping his blood colored eyes.

They broke up the camp the next morning, after a long and restless night, due to Durangos constant sobbing kept them awake all night. He apologized for keeping them awake, but they all just shook their heads. They understood. They couldn't take Clara along in the morning, so they decided to bury her in a temporary grave in the middle of the night, until they could come up with a way to take her back to Skeleton Cliffs and give her a proper burial.

As they got ready to leave for Skeleton Cliffs, Durango turned around and stared at the pile of rocks in the shadow of a cliff. He was staring at it for so long, that he jerked in surprise when he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. He snapped around and saw Holli stand beside him, his jaw clenched together and he had an expression on his face that was hard to decipher; he looked like a mix of sadness, frustration and anger.

"Sorry..." Durango mumbled and went back to adjusting Arrows saddle.

"Ts'alright, Campbell..." Holli said with a nod and patted his shoulder. "But we gotta go as soon as possible, so we can get those bastards behind bars already..." He glanced at their prisoners, squirming in the painful grip of the rattlesnake. "An' hopefully, we'll see 'em hang from the noose soon!"

…

**Skeleton Cliffs House of Court, 19th November 1848...**

"Due to lack of evidential matter and witness accounts, I hereby deem the following: Sheila Rose, Jack Hills, Alphonze Gajerra and Frank Howard innocent of all accusations. Court dismissed!"

_Whack!_

Rage. were just two of the feelings boiling within Durango at the moment.

"OBJECTION, yer 'onor!" He exclaimed and rushed up from his chair, causing the chair to fall backwards and hit the ground with an echoing _slam_! He pointed a stiff finger at the accused sitting in a row at the other side of the court.

"We had an entire CITY, who agreed on testifyin' 'gainst these outlaws! These ARE the ones who robbed our bank an' MURDERED Clara Campbell the 12th an' 13th!" Durango never thought he would be raising his voice in a court of law...

"Deputy Campbell, did you not hear the club? Court is adjourned!"

"We had almost 100 witnesses, only three showed up! Can ya explain that to me, yer 'honor?"

The judge, a large bearded dragon called Turpin, snorted and wrinkled his nose so his small, round glasses covered his eyes. "That sounds dangerously close to an accusation, deputy. Are you implying that I'M the one responsible for your missing witnesses?" He answered with a voice, raspy and torn from all the years of smoking this man had behind him.

"I ain't implyin' nothin', yer 'onor." Durango answered solemnly. "I'm just sayin' since ya outta all people should know where they went"

"Well, if you necessarily need to know, deputy, they all withdrew their witness accounts right before this court was established." The other lizard replied and rolled his eyes. "And with only three witnesses, who all gave very fuzzy and incoherent stories, I'm afraid we can't get much further in that case"

"What 'bout the murder? I saw Mr Gajerra shoot my wife Clara down in cold blood, right in front of me!"

"Did anyone else see the murder?" Turpin cocked his head to the side, obviously annoyed by the deputys dragging out on the trial.

"N-no... Yer 'honor, not one of our men at least..." Durango mumbled and averted his eyes, staring down at the table. "I-I was the only one there...

"We've already been through this, deputy! If there's no one else to witness, how can we know it really was Mr Gajerra who shot your wife?!"

"B'cause I SAW him!" Durango growled and slammed his hands on the table. "I saw him MURDER MY WIFE! RIGHT in front of me!"

"Then let me ask you one thing, young Mr Campbell..." Judge Turpin took of his glasses and leaned over the podium, narrowing his eyes at Durango. "If you saw him 'murder' your oh-so-beloved-wife, then why didn't you stop him? Why didn't do anything to save her?"

His question felt like a punch in the gut to Durango. His shoulders slouched and his knees began to shake. He slowly shook his head. "I... I..." He couldn't say anything, what could he say? The judge was right. He should've stopped Al from pulling that trigger! But how could he have done that when his leg was stuck? He felt tears fill up his eyes and he bit his lip to press them back. "I... I... I couldn't... I..."

Turpin smirked, knowing that he just stepped on a raw toe. "And for all we know, YOU could very well be the one responsible for her death, no?"

Durango lifted his head again and stared at the judge in disbelief, while utter discord broke out in the audience behind him.

"Yer 'onor, with all due respect..." Sheriff Holliday stood up from his chair. His whipping tail signaled that he was angry, but he kept his anger under control. "Firstly, Durango Campbell is my deputy, n' I can say with certainty that he'd never hurt Clara under ANY circumstances! An' second, his leg was stuck underneath th'rubble from a rock-slide, an' he was unarmed. There's no way he'd be the one who shot!" The black-collared lizard had to shout to make himself heard over the protesting crowd.

The judge waved his hand the people below him. "Oh well, that matters little now, the club has spoken. Court is dismissed!"

"Bullshit!" Benjamin Campbells voice was heard from the back of the room. "This is BULLSHIT!"

…

Durango remained seated on his chair while the upset people cleared out from the room. The court quickly became empty, except for Durango and the janitor.

"Sorry, sonny..." The old porcupine mumbled while mopping the floor. "I'm really sorry..."

Durango didn't reply, he just got up from his chair and walked like in a trance towards the exit, staring into the floor with an empty look in his eyes. He got out in the hallway and lifted his head when he heard voices in front of him. Mr Howard and judge Turpin were talking, when Howard suddenly retrieved an envelope from the inner pocket of his pure white coat. Durango came to a complete stop, not believing what he just saw;

Mr Howard had bribed the judge!

"Y-you..." He growled and the two bigger lizards further down the hallway turned their heads to him.

"Yes, young Mr Campbell?" Turpin said, one of the corners of his mouth were tugged up in a lopsided grin.

"You..." Durango felt anger simmer just beneath the surface; he was about to totally lose control. He walked up to the judge with long, determined strides. "You BASTARD!" He threw himself at the judge, grabbed him by the collar of his robe and pushed him up against the wall. "YA BIG CHEAPSKATE! YA FAT SONNOVA GUN! YA GOOD FOR NOTHIN' VILLAIN!" He threw a punch into the judges face for every profanity, adding emphasis.

"Campbell! What's gotten into ya, son?!" Mr Howard exclaimed and pried the kicking and screaming Durango away from the judge.

Turpin spat some blood on the ground and wiped the blood away from his face with a napkin. "I-it's alright, Mr Howard. You can let go of the lad now!" He said with a wave, and Mr Howard reluctantly let go of the young basilisk.

Durango writhed away and snarled at Mr Howard. "Howard! Why, ya big... You're the one who made sure they got freed, aren't ya?! You bribed this asshole?!"

"Do ya really think I'll let 'em hang my son? My only son?"

"Yer son ain't nothin' but a coward an' a fool, just like the his father! They ALL deserve to hang from the noose for their crimes!" He balled his fists and glared angrily at the two men. "When I tell sheriff Holliday 'bout this he'll...!"

"He'll do what?" Judge Turpin interrupted him with a snort. "We'll only plead non-guilty, and then its your word against ours. And who do you think they'll believe, the deputy who's barely a man yet, or a highly respected judge and the richest man in the territory?" The judge sadly shook his head. "You better just go home, lad. Go home and calm down. We're going to keep quiet about your assault on my person, unless you squawk around with that bribing-nonsense"

Durangos fist shook with anger and he clenched his jaw so tight it hurt. He didn't reply, he just turned around and stormed off, tears of frustration broke free from his eyes and ran down his cheeks as he walked directly home.

He got home, slammed the door behind him and stopped. He peered around his house. It was quiet. And felt empty. He slumped down in an armchair, burying his face in his hands and sobbed silently.

A week had gone since they set out after the robbers, and a week since the last time he saw Clara alive and well in this house. Her empty side of their bed was constant reminder of what happened, every morning when he woke up. The house felt empty and dark without her around, and he felt powerless as the tears fell in rivers from his eyes.

Why her?

Why did it have to be HER?

_Knock, knock, knock..._

Three rapid knocks on the door made Durango jerk back to reality. He stared out in the hallway as the knocks were heard again. With a heavy sigh, he decided to go and answer the door, and were met with both his sisters and their father.

Gin was shaking and sniveling loudly. Brandy tried to smile a faint smile, but it came out as an askew, sad grin. "H-hey, baby brother..." She said, right before Gin threw herself around her brothers neck and wailed into his shoulder. "W-we're s-so, so s-sorry, b-ba-haby b-brother...!"

Before Durango really registered what happened, both of his older twin sisters were hugging him. Benjamin were standing at the foot of the stairs, his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground.

"B-Brandy? Gin?" Durango wheezed and tried to break free from his sisters suffocatingly tight hug.

"O-our shift at the casino starts soon... W-we were just passin' here an'... A-an' we heard what happened... T-the judge... He..." Brandy sobbed and withdrew from the group hug to wipe her tears. "T-that was just WRONG!"

Gin nodded in agreement. "T-they deserved t'be h-hanged! W-why did h-he free 'em?"

"Mr Howard bribed 'im..." Durango answered solemnly as his other sisters also pulled away from him. The twins gawked in shock. "I saw 'em... Mr Howard payed judge Turpin to let 'em go..."

"I knew it..." Benjamin mumbled.

"R-Rang-rang, y-ya gotta TELL someone!" Brandy exclaimed while her sister nodded violently.

"Yeah? Who? Who's gonna believe me?"

They didn't answer his question, they just looked down at the ground. "W-we have t'go now, Rang-rang..." Gin said and hugged her brother an extra time. Brandy did the same.

"B-but if there's anythin' we can do for ya, anythin', just let us know, 'kay?" Brandy said and left with her twin, both of the girls were sobbing silently.

Durango watched them as they walked away. He slowly shook his head. That was something new! They vanished out on the main street just around the corner, and he turned his head to his father, who still stood by the foot of the stairs with his hands stuck in his pockets. The older basilisk walked with a heavy sigh up the stairs to the door.

"Don't tell me you're here to hug me too?" Durango said with a grimace and crossed his arms. Benjamin chuckled and shook his head.

"Don't worry, kiddo. I ain't gonna hug ya!"

"Then why're ya here?"

"To talk, I guess..."

"Talk?" Durango raised an eyebrow at his father. "Talk 'bout what?"

"Oh I dunno... A couple of years ago, I promised Holli I'd have a talk with ya" Ben scratched the back of his neck. "But I never got to it... Never knew what to talk 'bout..."

Durango leaned against the door frame. "Alright then..."

They were quiet for a while, before Benjamin chuckled. "Lookit'cha... Ya grew up without me even noticin' it..." He shook his head. "One day ya were crawlin' 'round on the floor, eating everythin' ya saw..." Durango rolled his eyes. Great, was he gonna bring up more awkward stuff from his childhood? "Next day you're all grown up, the deputy of our town an' even managed to git yerself hitched! An' I'm just standin' 'ere, wonderin' what the heck happened..." He sighed. "I guess, that's what happens when you're spendin' yer days lookin' down the bottles...I'm really sorry, Durango. I-I guess I haven't been exactly like the father of the year, have I?" He scratched the back of his neck again. "I should've spent more time with my kids, than in the saloon, shouldn't I?"

"Why?" Durango asked, earning a confused look from his father. "Why're ya botherin' now? Ya never as much as bothered lookin' at either me nor my sisters... Why're ya suddenly comin' 'ere an' tells me all this?" Durango frowned. Seriously, after all these years, NOW he comes and says he's sorry? "It's b'cause Clara died, isn't it?"

Benjamin flinched. "W-what? N-no, I just...!"

"That's why you're here, ain't it? That's why Brandy an' Gin were here too? Ev'ryone feels sorry for me since I was there when Clara was murdered, an' I couldn't no anythin' to stop it, isn't that right?" He growled and grabbed the door. Benjamin averted his eyes and didn't answer. "Well, ya know what? Ya can all just piss off! Go to hell, I don't care! Just leave me alone, like ya always did b'fore!" He slammed the door shut in his fathers face and bit his knuckles to stop himself from screaming out loud in frustration and anger.

Benjamin sighed and once again shook his head sadly as he walked down the stairs and headed home. Not that there were anyone at home: Penelope had been spending the entire week at the Barley farm; both Fiona and Mary-Anne had been completely devastated by the news of Claras death. And now when the news of the outlaws emancipation, they were probably going to feel even worse.

A few hours later, Durango sat on the edge of the bed, holding his head up with one hand while he spun her ring around in the other.

He couldn't let those villains slip free. If justice wasn't going to put an end to them, he would have to.

Justice.

What a joke! For just the right amount of money, justice could be bought and twisted, until it took any form that would fit them! He gritted his teeth and clenched his hand around the little gold ring. He was going to make sure Clara got justified, if it so killed him! He was going to avenge her!

…

Durango made his way over to the livery, where Arrow leaned on her stalls wall. Her head perked up when she noticed her masters arrival and she chirped.

"Hi there, Arrow..." He said and stroke the bird across her long, pointy beak. "We better git ya ready, b'cause we'll be leavin' the town t'day..." She tilted her head at him as if she understood what he just said and clapped her beak.

"Why're ya leavin' the town, Rang-rang?" He heard a young females voice behind him and he turned around, spotting Blake and Jolene in the stables doorway. Jolene had her overdimensioned head tilted to the side and frowned sadly.

"Oh... Hi there Jo, an' Blake..." Durango said and turned around completely. "W-what're ya two doin' 'ere?"

"Duh! We're here to see you, ya twit!" Blake snorted and earned an angry look from his sister by his use of words. He ignored her. "We saw ya head this way so we followed ya! All three of us!"

"Three...?" Durango flinched when Jakes much larger head appeared in the doorway, looming over his younger siblings. "Oh, ya too, Jake?"

"Ma sends her regards... She's sorry she couldn't make it to neither the funeral nor the trial..." Jake nodded seriously.

"Thanks, tell her I said hi!" Durango nervously coughed. "So, how's yer ma doin' nowadays?"

"Much better!" Jolene perked up and smiled happily. "She's said she'll be up an' 'bout next week!" Blake nodded in agreement, but above his siblings, Jake slowly shook his head. Durango nodded solemnly and instantly felt sorry for the two, young snakes. They just lost Dwayne, and now they were going to lose Carmen too. Another proof of the injustice and unfairness in life.

"Hey, look! There's uncle Harvey!" Jake suddenly exclaimed and pointed with his gatling-rattle at the General Store, where the middle aged skink lizard just exited with a crate in his arms.

"Uncle Harvey!" The two rattlesnakes hollered happily and darted towards said skink, who spotted the snakes and braced himself for impact as they surely would tackle him to the ground or something.

Jake chuckled and turned back to Durango. "So, you're ditchin' the town, huh?" He asked seriously.

"I'm gonna give those outlaws what they rightfully deserve..." The basilisk growled in return.

"All by yerself?"

"Yup, an' I don't want ya to come along, Jake. I'm sorry, but you've got yer siblings to take care off... I ain't sure I'll be comin' back..."

"Listen, Rang, Clara was my friend too! An' if ya think I'll let my last friend just ride off to his death you're dead wrong, pal!"

Durango shook his head. "I ain't gonna die. I just ain't gonna come back..."

Jake flinched. "Huh?"

"This town..." Durango said and motioned with his hand to the rest of the town. "Skeleton Cliffs is a dying town, Jake... Our judge got bribed into freeing a bunch of dangerous murderers and robbers! I've checked those men up, they're behind a whole row of train and bank robbin's, and have ya any idea how many people they've killed durin' their career? Besides, ya got yer siblings to take care off..." They looked at the two young rattlesnakes twirling around Harvey and enthusiastically telling him about everything they had been doing these last days.

"It wasn't just the judged who got bribed..." Jake clenched his teeth together. "Howard either bribed or threatened us witnesses too..."

Jake had been one of the few witnesses who showed up, but since he wasn't there when the robbery happened and didn't appear until the robbers were leaving, his story was very short and fuzzy. Which the judge shortly after clubbed as 'not valid'. Just like he did with Benjamins and Harveys witness accounts; one was the citys drunkard and wasn't the most reliable source of information, while Harvey was seeing everything from the General Store and could see what went on that very well.

"I thought so..." Durango nodded bitterly and chucked up the saddle on Arrows back, tightening the girdle.

"Are ya still leavin'?" Jake frowned. "Then I'm comin' with ya, whether ya like it or not!"

"God dammit Jake!" Durango spat and snapped his head around. "Ya CAN'T come with me! I don't WANT ya with me! Ya got people here who need ya! I ain't got no one left!"

"That's bullshit, ya got me, my family, yer family, sheriff Holli, the Barleys..."

"The Barleys hates my guts now, I just told my family to go to hell, I'm gonna go an' return the badge to sheriff Holli..." He paused. "An' ya and yer family are just gonna get into trouble if ya follow me... Jake, please, don't follow me!"

Jake narrowed his eyes. "Those bastards who shot Clara down..."

"Are gonna pay for what they did! I'll make sure of that, I promise!"

It took a while, but eventually Durango managed to make the snake promise that he would stay behind. As Durango rode out from the stable and head out towards the station, Jolene and Blake returned to their brothers side.

"I-is Durango leaving us now?" Jolene asked carefully and tilted her head. Jake nodded.

"Is he ever gonna come back?" Blake wondered. Jake shook his head.

...

Sheriff Holliday was leaning one of his elbows on the desk, playing without any major interest with a coin, when Durango entered the office. Holliday raised an eyebrow and stopped playing around with the coin.

"Campbell? Ya know ya got the rest of the day off, right?" He said. When Durango didn't answer, he slowly straightened up in the chair. "Campbell?"

"Sorry, sheriff..." Durango took the badge he wore on his jacket off and threw it on the desk. "But I quit."

Hollis eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Ya WHAT?"

"I quit!" Durango turned around. "I've got a couple of things to do..."

Holli gingerly picked the deputy badge up from the desk and frowned disbelievingly at the young basilisk. "Like what? What're ya gonna do?"

"Nothin'..."

"Wait a minute..." He slowly stood up from the chair. "Ya ain't gonna go up 'gainst the robbers, are ya?"

"Funny..." Durango answered with a cold shrug. "That was exactly what I was gonna do!" He put his hand on the door handle.

"The hell ya are, Durango Campbell...!"

"He's dead..."

Holli flinched. "Huh?"

"Durango Campbell is dead..." He slowly turned his head to the sheriff. "He died alongside his wife that night..."

The sheriff growled. "Nonsense! Ya ride out of this town now an' the next time I see yer sorry ass in this time, I'll lock ya up an' throw 'way the key, got it?!" He said and pointed at Durango with a stiff finger. "Ya hear me, Durango?!"

"Durango is dead, I said..." The basilisk said and opened the door. "The name's Rango now. Just Rango..." He walked out through the door and heard sheriff Holliday slam a hand on the desk.

"Ya come back in here, RIGHT THIS INSTANT, Campbell! COME BACK HERE N...!" He was interrupted by one of the most violent cough attacks he yet to have. He was forced to sit down in his chair and when his seizure was over, his shoulders were shaking, his palm full of blood and Durango, or Rango, was long since gone...

…

He looked at the tombstone over her new resting place.

_In loving memory of_

_Clara Campbell, formerly Barley_

_Beloved wife, sister and daughter_

_Taken away from us too soon_

He put a hand on the cool rock _Not long now, Clara... I'll get those bastards back... I promise ya, love..._

…

"OWCH! Watch it, Sheila! It hurts, doggone it!" The Komodo dragon snarled when the female coyote roughly stitched the wounds in his legs back together.

"Aww" She batted her eyelashes innocently at him and pouted her lips. "Did I hurt the big, bad dragon?" Al snorted out a chuckle and ran his hand over her tail, she used it to swat his hand away. "Nu-huh, ya owe me fer twelve pokes already, y'know! Can't give ya no more 'til ya pay what ya owe!" She giggled and 'accidentally' drove the needle she used to stitch, into his leg. "Whoopsie!"

He twitched. "Bitch!" He growled with an amused smirk on his face. "What 'bout the other times, huh?"

"But those times..." She bit off the thread and leaned closer to his snout, smiling seductively. "Were special!"

Jack were sitting across Frank around the table, while Sheila and Al split the hammock. They were sitting on the porch of the Howard ranchs main house. Mr Howard agreed on letting the band rest up until they were fit to ride again. Or correction; until Al was fit to ride again.

Ten bullets had been lodged in his legs, and since Ingo refused to do more than to pick out the bullets, Als wounds had been open for a week and risked infection. Sheila was right now busying herself with pouring alcohol in the wounds and stitching them shut again. And at least an equal amount of alcohol was consumed by Al to keep the pain at a minimum.

"Who's that?" Al suddenly asked, and pointed at the horizon. The others followed his finger and spotted a rider coming closer to the town. Jack got up from his chair and narrowed his eyes. The rider got closer and closer, eventually they all recognized the young basilisk on the black roadrunner.

"What're ya doin' 'ere deputy?" Jack growled as the youngster stopped right by the porch.

"Whaddya want?" Al spat and reached for his gun.

"The four of ya kidnapped an' murdered my wife. Either ya can get yer asses down to the station, confess an' walk like nice, lil' obedient lowlifes..."

This got the four outlaws, including Frank, to burst out in a loud laughter. "Or what, lil man?" Jack laughed grimly.

"Ya gonna kill us?" Al followed up with a dark chuckle.

The deputy looked up at them underneath the brim of his hat. "That's just 'bout the size of it..."

The laughing seized an were replaced by tensed glares. They were studying him, he were studying them. Four to one, the odds weren't exactly in his favor, but he refused to go down without bringing at least one of them down. Preferably the Komodo dragon.

The next thing happened in a matter of seconds; Al growled and grabbed the handle of his revolver, but never got the time to draw it and fire before Durango had his own gun in his hands and fired two shots; one hit the Komodo dragon in the shoulder, the other in his head. The giant lizard was dead before he hit the floor. Sheila screamed and dove down after him.

The next man down was Jack, who just got his gun up before he got hit by a bullet in his chest and went down.

Frank felt his hip, and discovered to his horror that he wasn't wearing his gun. He held his hands up in front of his face. "N-NO! D-don't shoot! Please, Campbell, I-I'm unarmed!"

"So was Clara..." Was the basilisks response before he squeezed the trigger, but first he shot Sheila, who showed up with Als gun in her hands.

Tears were running down her furry cheeks and her fangs were bared in anger. She fired a shot, but Arrow managed to step out of the way in time to dodge the bullet, the bullet only ripped up a jack in her riders arm. "Y-you lil' piece of...!" Were the female coyotes last word before two more shots were fired from his gun, both hitting her in the chest.

Frank met the same fate as the others: the young basilisks last bullet lodged between his eyes.

The last man standing from all this was still sitting on his roadrunner, his limbs shaking and the world around him was spinning due to all the adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

He couldn't believe what just happened. Only a few seconds ago they opened fire at each other, now four, lethally dangerous outlaws were lying dead or dying only a few meters away. He holstered his gun and without any further ado, he turned Arrow around and left the ranch.

A bloodcurling scream told him that Franks mother had come out of the house and found her son, dead with a bullet in his head.

And shortly after, someone were shooting after him; Mr Howard had found the hunting rifle.

Arrow sped up and bolted out through the gate, still with Mr Howards bullets whizzing over their heads.

He felt nothing. Not at first, then he felt the chuckle leave his lips. The chuckle soon escalated into a gleeful laugh, as the black roadrunner thundered out into the desert, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Finally. Clara was free. Her killers had gotten what they deserved!

Since that day, Durango Campbell were no more. In his ashes awokened instead Rango, the bountyhunter.

With his companions at his side, his faithful band of renegades and misfits, he traveled around the land, getting rid of the vermin of the Earth one by one. And his ways of not being afraid to use any methods necessary to catch his outlaws, no matter how brutal, soon became legendary.

Arrow, his charcoal-black roadrunner, soon became a symbol for death, as her rider was sure to bring it wherever they went.

Just uttering his name in some saloons can make the crowd go silent and cover behind their drinks and cards. The name, which itself is said to bring death whenever it is uttered without caution, is Rango.

Rango, the Hunter in Black.

**The End.**

**GOOD HEAVENS HALLELUJAH IT'S OVER!**

**AND ON TIME :D! Oh well, sort of... I DID say that I'd upload this BEFORE next week, right? Well, I'm uploading this on Sunday night, 23:34 SPOT ON! Like a BOSS xD!**

**So, this was the story of how Durango Campbell, became the notorious bountyhunter Rango.**

**Kinda tragic ending huh? Yeah :/... But shit happens MUAHAHAHAHAA! Nah, that was mean, sorry xD!**

**Well, I've had A LOT of fun writing this, even if the two last chapters were a pain in the ass to write, lol! (and this monstrosity chapter is over 11k words, so if anyone wanna know you just read away 16 pages of your life, a shitton of minutes you'll never get back so I hope it was worth your time :P)**

**But anyway, THANKS A MILLION for reading this :D, and THANKS A MILLION to my (so far only (of this story at least)) subscriber StonecoldAphrodite for your reviews and continued support :D! REALLY helped!**

**And don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought of the story, and keep your eyes peeled on my DeviantArt account, PrincessPurplePie, for the poll, in which YOU decides which story in the Outlaw Archives you'd like to read next ;)**

**Once again; THANKS A MILLION FOR READING :D!**

**Delilah OUT!**


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